Forty-Seventh State of the Union New Mexico was named by the Spanish for lands north of the Rio Grande River (the upper region of the Rio Grande was called Nuevo Mexico as early as 1561). The name was anglicized and applied to the land ceded to the United States by Mexico after the Mexican American War. Mexico is an Aztec word meaning "place of Mexitli" (an Aztec god). New Mexico became the 47th state on January 6, 1912.
Motto: Crescit eundo
It grows as it goes
State Flower: Yucca
State Tree: Pinyon Pine
State Bird: Roadrunner