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.

本文探讨了 16 世纪危地马拉的洗礼命名，背景是土著适应西班牙领导的入侵、强制重新安置和强加天主教的社会政治动荡。作为洗礼制度的一部分——第一个天主教圣礼和传教士在抵达西班牙美洲后不久实施的圣礼——土著受洗者获得了一个欧洲名字，以及以教父教母形式出现的精神亲属。16 世纪末和 17 世纪初圣地亚哥阿蒂特兰（危地马拉高地的一个以 Tz'utujil 玛雅人为主的社区）洗礼名称的分布表明，土著洗礼标志着与前殖民地专名实践的决裂。与其延续原住民根据出生日期给孩子命名的传统，圣地亚哥阿蒂特兰地区的玛雅成年人制定了新的命名策略，同时将他们的孩子定位在西班牙的行政范围内，并在殖民破坏后重建了当地的社交网络。此外，教父母对名字选择的影响既表达又强化了教父身份作为殖民地土著社会中最具社会影响力的天主教机构的重要性，并且至今仍充满活力。