"In the Name of the (God)Father": Baptismal Naming in Early Colonial Guatemala. Issue 2 (April 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Matsumoto, Mallory E.
• Is Part Of: Americas. Volume 80:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 183
• Page End: 219
• Publication Date: 2023-04
• Subjects: baptism -- naming -- colonial Guatemala -- Highland Maya -- godparenthood -- Catholicism; America -- History -- Periodicals; Latin America -- History -- Periodicals; United States -- Relations -- Latin America -- Periodicals; Latin America -- Relations -- United States -- Periodicals; AMERICA LATINA -- HISTORIA -- PUBLICACIONES PERIODICAS; ESTADOS UNIDOS -- RELACIONES EXTERIORES -- AMERICA LATINA -- PUBLICACIONES PERIODICAS; AMERICA LATINA -- RELACIONES -- ESTADOS UNIDOS -- PUBLICACIONES PERIODICAS; Electronic journals; 970.05
• DOI: 10.1017/tam.2022.95
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-1615

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines baptismal naming in sixteenth-century Guatemala in the context of Indigenous adaptation to the sociopolitical upheavals of Spanish-led invasion, forced resettlement, and the imposition of Catholicism. As part of the institution of baptism—the first Catholic sacrament and one that missionaries implemented soon after their arrival in the Spanish Americas—Indigenous baptizees received a European name, as well as spiritual kin in the form of godparents. The distribution of baptismal names in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Santiago Atitlán, a predominantly Tz'utujil Maya community in highland Guatemala, suggests that Indigenous christening marked a break with precolonial onomastic practice. Instead of continuing the Indigenous tradition of naming children according to their birthdate, Maya adults in the Santiago Atitlán area developed new naming strategies that simultaneously located their children in the Spanish administrative sphere and reconstituted local social networks in the wake of colonial disruptions. Furthermore, the influence of godparents on name selection both expressed and reinforced godparenthood's rising significance as the most socially salient Catholic institution in colonial Indigenous society and one that remains vibrant into the present.