Background: The Yucatan peninsula is comprised of the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. I was doing some research and found that Maya surnames are VERY common in Yucatan state, but much less so in Campeche and Quintana Roo. I found this odd, since the Maya homeland covered all three states, and was arguably even stronger in QR state than in Yucatan state.

Does anyone know why the Maya surnames have survived and thrived in Yucatan, but not in Campeche or Quintana Roo?

Just a guess, but maybe Yucatan villages were more remote than other Mayan and Aztec cities and had less direct influence from Spanish settlers??

ETA: A quick Google search showed that the Spanish spoken in the Yucatan is still heavily influenced by the Mayan language, which seems to support the idea that the Spanish had less influence there than in other parts of Mexico.

Look up Mayan Caste War. It lasted almost 100 years in the Yucatn and British Honduras (Belize) between full blood Mayans and Mestizos. . When I lived in Belize we had some employees who would speak English and K'ekchi Mayan but refused to speak Spanish because they still thought of Mestizo Belizeans as the enemy.

87Flyfisher said:

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Look up Mayan Caste War. It lasted almost 100 years in the Yucatn and British Honduras (Belize) between full blood Mayans and Mestizos. . When I lived in Belize we had some employees who would speak English and K'ekchi Mayan but refused to speak Spanish because they still thought of Mestizo Belizeans as the enemy.

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I am familiar with the Caste War. The independent Mayan political entity that lasted longest was almost all of QR and part of British Honduras and only a small slice of Yucatan (plus a bit of Guatemala). If the Caste War affect surnames, I would expect more Mayan surnames in QR than in Yucatan.