Teuhcatl (MH506r)

In Sarah Cline's Book of Tributes (1993) from Morelos, this is a name taken by Nahua men. A blog post study of the 1544 Nahuatl census of Morelos by Magnus Pharao Hansen suggests a translation of "Dust Person" for the name Teuhcatl. The visual certainly would support this interpretation. And the -catl suggests "person" with a certain association or affiliation.

However, there is more to the name. The Handbook of Middle American Indians: Anthology of Northern Mesoamerica (1971, 426) states that this was one of several Chinampaneca deities. According to the Gran Diccionario Náhuatl, Teuhcatl is a divinity akin to Mixcoatl. The Codex Chimalpopoca refers to the ixiptlatl of a deity, Teuhcatl, who was dressed like Mixcoatl, and the Mexica were fooled by it. This is quoted in Molly Bassett's, The Fate of Earthly Things (2015), 162. Given the association with the divinity Mixcoatl, and the image of swirling serpent-like clouds associated with the glyphs of that name, this name Teuhcatl seemingly has associations with beliefs relating to the importance of wind and swirling rain clouds.