The name of Mexico

The name Mexico comes from the Nahuatl Mēxihco, the name of the Mexica city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. The most widespread interpretation breaks it into metztli (moon), xictli (navel, center) and -co (place): “in the navel of the moon,” referring to the city founded in the middle of Lake Texcoco, also called the Lake of the Moon.

There are other explanations, such as one linking it to Mexi or Mexitli, another name for Huitzilopochtli, but on the exam the expected answer is “the navel of the moon.”