“El Mariachi” translates to the word “musician.” It originally came from the movie “El Mariachi” which was about a guy who sang romance but nobody liked that about him–but he never cared and continued to sing romance wherever he went and whenever he sang.

Word Origin For years, authorities believed the word mariachi (or its variant, mariache) was an indigenous Mexican word, but recent evidence points to a mixed Spanish and indigenous (mestizo) origin. The earliest known written examples of the word date from the early 1800s, where it is found as a place name.