 The name "Tarascan" (and its Spanish-language equivalent, "tarasco") comes from the word "tarascue" in the Purépecha language, which means indistinctly "father-in-law" or "son-in-law".The Spanish took it as their name, for reasons that have been attributed to different, mostly legendary, stories.The Nahuatl name for the Purépecha was "Michhuàquê" ("those who have fish"), whence the name of the Mexican state of Michoacán.