Jalapa or Xalapa ?

In Mexico you use X in the name and other words instead of the j. We spell the name of our country with x, the ones that write it with "j" are the Spaniards both forms are correct according to the"Real Academia Española" but a Mexican will never write Mexico or Texas with "j".

'texano' instead of 'tejano' is also kind of weird.***

Not here, tejano with "j" looks more weird while texano with "x" is more usual.

How about "jalapeño"?

Is it more usual in Mexico to write "xalapeño" instead?

Jalapeño is more used when refering to the pepper, and Xalapeño when refering to the people.

<< J in medieval Spanish represents a ZH sound as in English "leiSure", or the sound which Valencian, French, Portuguese, and Romanian J represents.

Then there was a desonorization in the evolution towards modern Spanish, where the ZH sound -written with a J or a G before I & E- and the SH sound -written with an X- merged into an SH sound, which then was written written with a J until today.

Some Spanish words which had an X in medieval Spanish:
complejo <== complexo
reflejo <== reflexo
Quijote <== Quixote
Alejandro <== Alexandro
tejano <== texano
mejicano <== mexicano

Notice than English usually retains the X and pronounce it as an KS sound, instead of an SH sound.

In the case of proper names, mostly both versions with J and X are allowed.

HTH! >>

Thanks, that's very interesting!

So that's why writing Mexico and Texas with and X in Spanish gives you sort of an "archaic" impression.

Both Jalapa and Xalapa are right.

Xalapa is the older spelling.

Was "Jalisco" ever written as "Xalisco"?

You have to admit that the "X" looks a lot classier than the "J"

I like them both, however I don't know if Jalisco was ever spelled Xalisco.

'Jalisco' can also be written with either J or X. ;-)

México and Texas with an X are not archaic, they're influenced by the native languages spoken by the indigenous people. On the other hand, Quixote, complexo and those ARE archaic. Depends if it has Mexican or Spanish origin.

Actually I think the spelling of "Texas" is archaic... It was named after the Caddo word for "friend" or "ally" tayshay. At the time, as I understand it, 'x' was used to represent /S/ in Spanish... Am I getting archaic Spanish 'x' and 'j' confused here?

I agree with Skippy.

'México' and 'Texas' did originate from indigenous languages, yet they also went through the same sound shift as 'Quixote'.
In Spanish, 'Méjico' and 'Tejas' have the same 'kh' sound as in 'Quijote' instead of an 'sh' sound, so it is rightful to write them with a J instead of X. Both forms are allowed because they're proper names.

Xalapa and Jalapa rhyme with chupa the favorite of hispANUSES.