La historia detrás del nombre de Havana está envuelta en leyendas, raíces indígenas y evoluciones lingüísticas. Aunque existen varias teorías, la más aceptada señala que el nombre proviene del cacique Habaguanex, un líder taíno que gobernaba la región donde se fundó el primer asentamiento español.
Habaguanex was an influential figure among the indigenous peoples of western Cuba, and his name was adopted by the colonizers to name the town founded in 1514 and moved to its current location in 1519.
This hypothesis is highlighted by several historians, such as the late Eusebio Leal, and it directly connects the identity of the city with its Taíno roots.
Other less accepted versions suggest that “Habana” could derive from the Taíno word sabana, pronounced as jabana in Arawakan dialects.
There were also those who defended the idea that Havana has Germanic roots, due to the word "haven" (port). Furthermore, there is a legendary interpretation of Arawak origin, where the term "abana" means "she is crazy," referring to an indigenous woman named Guara.
Regarding the written form of the name, the Cuban historian Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring documented that for more than two centuries it was common to write Havana or Hauana, as seen in the books of the Cabildo and in works such as the Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias by Bartolomé de Las Casas.
It was from 1798 onwards that the spelling "Habana" with a "b" started to be progressively used in Cuban documents, although it wasn't until 1821 that this form was fully established, definitively replacing the previous one.
Beyond its spelling, the name La Habana retains in its root the memory of the indigenous people, with Habaguanex as a symbol of the living history that endures in the identity of the Cuban capital.
Filed under:
