cristiano. / cristiana.

(a loanword from Spanish)

Headword: 
cristiano. / cristiana.
Principal English Translation: 

literally, a Christian, but this could also simply mean a Spaniard or a European
(a loanword from Spanish)

Orthographic Variants: 
quixtiano, chritiano, cristiyano, xpiano, xpianosme, nichristiano, Christiano, christianosme, christianoyotl, christianoyotica, quixtianotin, quixtianoto
Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written: 

cristiānoh, cristiānah, adjective modifying Sp. words. Christian. Sp. see also quixtiānoh.
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 216.

Attestations from sources in English: 

Ca nelli huel xptiano catcan tlacatl notlatzin Don herdo cortes yxtlilxochitzin = Truly the lord my uncle don Hernando Cortés Ixtlilxochitzin was indeed a Christian (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 214–215.

chistianosme muchihuaznequi muchtin Japon tlaca = all the Japanese want to become Christians (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 274–275.

cenca muchi quaqualli yhuan huel tetech monequi ȳ neyolnonotzaliztli huel ytech monequi yn çaço aquin christiano yn huel ytechtzinco pachihuiznequi yn tt.º Dios. = They are all excellent and very necessary for one. The meditations are very necessary for any Christian who really wishes to draw near to our Lord God. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 130–131.

Cristiano was a fairly common loanword in colonial Nahuatl manuscripts. Alva's guide to confession uses it 8 times out of 260 total loanword appearances of various kinds. The percentages of appearances of certain loans in Alva are very consistent with Chimalpahin, who also wrote in the seventeenth century.
See Sell's comments in Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 23.

anChristianome = you Christians; tiChristiano = you Christian (Juan Bautista, Mexico City, 1599)
Susanne Klaus, Uprooted Christianity: The Preaching of the Christian Doctrine in Mexico, Based on Franciscan Sermons of the 16th Century Written in Nahuatl (Bonn: Bonner Amerikanistische Studien e. V. c/o Seminar für Völkerkunde, Universität Bonn, 1999), 137.

yn qualtin xpianosme = the good Christians (Mexico City, 1552)
Fray Alonso de Molina, Nahua Confraternities in Early Colonial Mexico: The 1552 Nahuatl Ordinances of fray Alonso de Molina, OFM, ed. and trans., Barry D. Sell (Berkeley: Academy of American Franciscan History, 2002), 92–93.

nican tlami yn intlahtol huehuetque yn achto christianosme catca yn achto momachtianime pipiltin catca = here ends the account of the ancient ones who were the first Christians, the noblemen who were the first neophytes (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 62–63.

ypan testamento oquimitalhuitiaque oquimocahuililiaya çe quixtianoto = In the testament they said they were leaving it to a Spanish boy (Santa Bárbara Xolalpan, Toluca Valley, 1701)
Caterina Pizzigoni, ed., Testaments of Toluca (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2007), 66.

yhuā niquitohuā ca nichristiano = And I say that I am a Christian (San Pablo Tepemaxalco, Toluca Valley, 1691)
Caterina Pizzigoni, ed., Testaments of Toluca (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2007), 127.

in cenca tivecapa tix—piano = most high and Christian; itechcopa in xpi—anoyotl = in things of Christianity; cenca vei in mox—pianoyo = in your very great Christianity; yn ayamo tix—pianome = before we were Christians (Huejotzingo, 1560)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 29, 176–181.

niman techvicca ce cristiano ytoca po ruyz = Then a Spaniard named Pedro Ruiz took us with him (San Pedro Huehuetlan, Soconusco, 1565)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 30, 194–195.

christianoyotica netlazotlaistica = with good Christianity and friendship (Nombre de Dios, Durango, late sixteenth century, 1585?)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 23, 128–129.

yn ixquich quimoneltoquitia yn christianosme ca no ixquich nicnoneltoquitia = all that Christians believe, also all that I believe (Coyoacan, 1588)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 2, 54–55.

quimatizque yn xpianome (Chiucnauhapan, Coyoacan, 1608)
Frances Karttunen and James Lockhart, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period, Linguistics 85 (Los Angeles, University of California Publications, 1976), Doc. 3, 98.

sa san quixtianotin (Spaniards) (Puebla, circa 1680–1700)
Frances Karttunen and James Lockhart, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period, Linguistics 85 (Los Angeles, University of California Publications, 1976), Doc. 9.

ma yaxca quixtiano ma aquin yaxca (Puebla, circa 1680–1700)
Frances Karttunen and James Lockhart, Nahuatl in the Middle Years: Language Contact Phenomena in Texts of the Colonial Period, Linguistics 85 (Los Angeles, University of California Publications, 1976), Doc. 9, 114.

ma yc timotlapoluti yn ac tehuatl tixpiano in ticpohuaz = do not be confused by this, you who are Christian and read [this account]
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 2, 32–33.

oncā tzintic ȳ tlaneltoquiliztli yn christianoyotl yvan oncā nequahateq̉loc nenamictilloc = At that point was founded the faith, Christianity, and at that point people were baptized and married.
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 282–283.

xpianoyotl = things of Christianity
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 288–289.

ȳ ayamo tixpīanome = before we were Christians, your captian-general don Hernando Cortés arrived
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 290–291.

yn ipan in nueua españa in ye ixquichcauh ypan yehuantin christianosme ymaxcapan = in New Spain ever since it has belonged to the Christians (central Mexico, 1608–1609?)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 146–147.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

yhuan qualtin tlaca christianos = y también que sean buenas personas, cristianos (Xochimilco, 1650)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 246–247.

qualtin chrispianosme chrispianasme = los fieles católicos cristianos (Coyoacan, 1607)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 52–53.

yahua yn ixquich quineldoca yn chrisptianome yn chrisptianame ca no yxquich nicneldoca ynehuatl Maria Zecilia = y todo aquello que creen los cristianos y las cristianas, también yo María Cecilia creo todo (Coyoacan, 1560)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 120–121.

tlen quimomahuisotilia yn Caxtilan yn chritianos oncan omacia oquihtoque yehuatzin senquisca ychpochtli Santa Maria Asunpçion = ¿Qué honran los cristianos en Castilla? Dijeron: "A la siempre Virgen Santa María Asunción" (Tlaxcala, 1662–1692)
Juan Buenaventura Zapata y Mendoza, Historia cronológica de la Noble Ciudad de Tlaxcala, transcripción paleográfica, traducción, presentación y notas por Luis Reyes García y Andrea Martínez Baracs (Tlaxcala y México: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Secretaría de Extensión Universitaria y Difusión Cultural, y Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, 1995), 102–103.

nicristiyano nicpopolhuilia = se los perdono [como cristiano que soy] (Ocotelulco, 1591)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 1, Testamentos en castellano del siglo XVI y en náhuatl y castellano de Ocotelulco de los siglos XVI y XVII, eds. Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, y Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: CIESAS, 1999), 246-247.

Auh no yevanti patresme Santo Domingo Sanc Francisco la Merced cenca ypan motlatoltia yn pianoyotl mochi ypan motlatoltia yn imaviztililocatzin tto J. = También los padres de Santo Domingo, de San Francisco y de la Merced hablan mucho del cristianismo; todo lo que hablan es de la gloria de nuestro Señor Jesús.
Nuestro pesar, nuestra aflicción / tunetuliniliz, tucucuca; Memorias en lengua náhuatl enviadas a Felipe II por indígenas del Valle de Guatemala hacia 1572, introduction by Cristopher H. Lutz, paleography and translation by Karen Dakin (México: UNAM and Centro de Investigaciones Regionales de Mesoamérica, 1996), 8–9.