Itzel

A name with Maya roots, Itzel comes from the Classical Maya ixchel, linked to the moon goddess Ixchel, patroness of weaving, childbirth, and the tides. The name has surged in Mexican American families since the 1990s and now holds a steady U.S. top 400 rank, part of a broader reclamation of indigenous names across Latin America. Two syllables with a bright Z at the center, the final L landing clean. The name pronounces as eet-SEL in its original Maya register, ee-SEL more softly in everyday Spanish. Itzel reads luminous and ancestral, a name with the moon tangled in its hair.