 Sierra Popoluca has two sister languages, Texistepec and Ayapanec, both of which are severely endangered.The word "popoluca" means "gibberish” in Nahuatl, and the name Sierra Popoluca comes from the language being labelled as such at the time of conquest.To avoid the derogatory connotations of "popoluca", some researchers have adopted the name Soteapanec for the language instead (named after the largest municipality it is spoken in).