CHAPTER 5 THE COLONIAL PERIOD IN MESOAMERICA 209tury, women rarely pursued lawsuits in their own right but instead were represented
in court by their husbands or fathers. And in their wills, they left nearly all of their
possessions to their husbands and children, following Spanish patterns that favored
nuclear family ties over broader networks of kin relations.
At baptism, every Indian child received a Spanish first name. These were always
the names of Catholic saints, some of which were so popular that a small town might
have many Anas, Isabels, Juans, and Pedros. Other names used by native people re-
flect differences in rank and the degree of Spanish influence operative in any given
area. Native names came into use as individual surnames; some then became estab-
lished as family surnames. These native names were passed down from one’s ances-
tors or from preconquest naming traditions. For example, before the conquest the
Nahua often referred to their daughters according to their order of birth: Tiacapan
for the eldest, Tlaco for the middle one, Xoco for the youngest, and Mocel for an only
daughter. In the colonial records appear women with such names as María Tiaca-
pan, Barbara Tlaco, Ana Xoco, and Angelina Mocel. Other names derived from the
day-signs of the traditional calendar: hence, Martín Ocelotl (Martin Jaguar). Some
native nobles chose to use traditional lordly titles as their second names. In general,
Figure 5.10 This woodcut from 1565 depicts a Franciscan priest presiding over a native
wedding ceremony. The bridegroom wears the traditional native-style cape knotted over his
colonial-style tunic; the bride wears the long, loose blouse and skirt characteristic of Nahua
women before and after the Spanish conquest. From Alonso de Molina, Confessionario mayor,
en lengua Mexicana y Castellana,folio 57r. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown
University.