This is a name list of the different manifestations of the Creator and Former, mainly taken from the Books of Chilam Balam (CHB), Lacandon ethnography (LAC), Landa (L), and Popol Vuh (PV). Depending on the source, the name is Yucatec or K'iche'. The Classic Period names (belonging to a language related to modern Chol and Chorti) are only rarely known with certainty. Only those names have been listed which are familiar from popular books on the Maya, or which play an important role in scholarly discussions. Between square brackets, the correspondence with the deities in the revised Schellhas-Zimmermann-Taube list of codical deities has been indicated.
The word "God" should not be used
A fish god and the patron deity of fishermen. He blessed their catches, yet also ate them if they drowned.
Chicchan
A group of four Chorti rain gods who live in lakes and make rain clouds from the water in those lakes. Each of the rain gods was associated with a cardinal direction, similar to the Bacabs. Chiccan was also the name of a day in the Tzolkin cycle of the maya calendar.
Cit-Bolon-Tum
A god of medicine and healing.
Chimalmat *PV*
A giant who, by Vucub Caquix, was the mother of Cabrakan and Zipacna.
Also spelled Ek Chuah, the "black war chief" was the patron god of warriors and merchants, depicted carrying a bag over his shoulder. In art, he was a dark-skinned man with circles around his eyes, a scorpion tail and dangling lower lip. In early modern studies of Maya art and iconography, he was sometimes referred to as God M before his identity was firmly established.
Feathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. Gukumatz of the K'iche' Maya is closely related to the god Kukulkan of Yucatán and to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztec.
H[]
Hacha'kyum *LAC*
Worshipped by the Lacandon people as their patron deity.
Bacab of the south; the ek element in the name may refer to a star or constellation.
Hun Batz *PV*
'One Howler Monkey', one of the two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.
Hun Came *PV*
A demonic lord of the underworld (Xibalba) who, along with Vucub Caquix, killed Hun Hunahpu. They were killed in turn by the latter's sons, the Maya Hero Twins.
Hun Chowen *PV*
One of the two stepbrothers of the Hero Twins, one of the Howler Monkey Gods and patron of the arts.
Hun Hunahpu *PV*
The father of the Maya Hero Twins Ixbalanque and Hun-Apu by a virgin. Beheaded in Xibalba, the underworld, by the rulers of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vucub Caquix. His sons avenged his death.
Hunab Ku
'Sole God', identical with Itzamna as the highest Yucatec god; or a more abstract upper god.
The founder of the Maya culture, he taught his people to grow maize and cacao, as well as writing, calendars and medicine. Once mentioned as the father of the Bacabs. Connected to Kinich Ahau and Hunab Ku.
Mountain god and patron of the Ajaw K'iche' noble lineage.
Jakkesgay *PV*
God of patriotic acts to civilization
K[]
Kauil (Kawil, K'awiil)
Assumed to have been the Classic name of god K (Bolon Dzacab). Title attested for Itzamna, Uaxac Yol, and Amaite Ku; family name; probably not meaning 'food', but 'powerful'.
Kinich Ahau *L*
The solar deity.
Kinich Kakmo
A solar deity represented by a macaw, patron of Izamal (Yucatan).
Feathered Snake god and creator. The depiction of the feathered serpent deity is present in other cultures of Mesoamerica. He is also more commonly known as Kukulcan.
T[]
Targitzan
The mighty Mayan god of target shooting. He resembles a totem pole of sorts and is made up of four constantly spinning segments (not counting his head), each covered in targets and dart-spewing faces. The ratio of faces to targets increases the further up his body.
Tepeu *PV*
A sky god and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity.
Tohil was a patron deity of the K'iche'. There was a great temple to him at their ancient capital of Q'umarkaj.
Toltex
God of Chaos. He's the son of Gukumatz, but the other Gods, also his own father, banish him to Xibalba after he tried to make a complete chaos of the whole world.
V[]
Votan
legendary ancestral deity, Chiapas.
Vucub-Caquix *PV*
Bird demon, severs arm of Hero Twin, wife is Chimalmat, sons the demonic giants Cabrakan and Zipacna.
X[]
Xaman Ek
god of travelers and merchants, who gave offerings to him on the side of roads while traveling.
Xbalanque *PV* [god CH]
War Twin, one of the Hero Twins companion to Hunahpu
Xmucane and Xpiayoc *PV*
A creator god couple which helped create the first humans. They are also the parents of Hun Hunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu. They were called Grandmother of Day, Grandmother of Light and Bearer twice over, begetter twice over and given the titles midwife and matchmaker.
Y[]
Yaluk
One of four Mopan 'Grandfathers' of the earth and chief lightning god.
Yum Kaax
God of the woods, of wild nature, and of the hunt; invoked before carving out a maize field from the wilderness.
