Topic summary
malinalli
Extracted from the Wikipedia article La Malinche.
Name
Since at least the 19th century, she was believed to have originally been named Malinalli, (Nahuatl for "grass"), after the day sign on which she was supposedly born. If so, Marina would have been chosen as her baptismal name because of its phonetic similarity. Modern historians have rejected such mythic suggestions, noting that the Nahua associate the day sign Malinalli with bad or "evil" connotations, and they are known to avoid using such day signs as personal names. Moreover, there would be little reason for the Spaniards to ask the natives what their names were before they were christened with new names after Catholic saints.