The mariachi orchestra emerged in the late 1700s or early 1800s in west-central Mexico. The word mariachi may have come from the now-extinct language of the Coca Indians, but both the word's etymology and the early history of the form and its followers are unknown.

The consensus of modern scholars is that the word mariachi is indigenous to Mexico. The now-extinct Coca language of central Jalisco is that most frequently cited as its probable source.