Etymology of "Mexico"

Mexico derives from the Nahuatl (Aztec) Mēxihco [meːˈʃiʔko], traditionally analyzed as:

• Mēxih – possibly "people of the Moon" or "in the navel of the Moon" (referencing the Mexica/Aztec patron deity Huitzilopochtli's lunar associations).
• -co – locative suffix meaning "place of."

Thus, "Place of the Mexica" or "Place at the Moon's Navel." The name originally referred to the island capital Tenochtitlan in Lake Texcoco, then expanded to the valley, the empire, and eventually the modern nation.