Why it is called the Maracanã

A parrot and a river

Wikipedia says the stadium's popular name is derived from the Maracanã River, which rises in the forested hills to the west of Rio and crosses neighbourhoods of the North Zone such as Tijuca and São Cristóvão before it reaches Guanabara Bay. The word Maracanã itself derives from the Tupi language, in which it names a type of parrot that inhabited the region.

Before the district

Wikipedia notes that the stadium was built before the Maracanã neighbourhood existed as such, and that the area was once part of Tijuca. At the chosen site stood a tennis stadium. The choice of location was criticised at the time, and Congressman Carlos Lacerda argued it should be built in Jacarepaguá, in the West Zone, but the project went ahead, helped by journalist Mário Filho's support.

Who Mário Filho was

Mário Filho was born in Recife on 3 June 1908, moved to Rio as a child in 1916 and began as a sports reporter at his father's newspaper in 1926, says Wikipedia. He was a strong vocal supporter of the stadium, and he died on 17 September 1966. Wikipedia credits him with creating the name Fla-Flu for the Flamengo-Fluminense derby. The stadium was renamed in his honour after his death.

A journalist's campaign

Wikipedia describes Mário Filho as the brother of the writer Nelson Rodrigues and a strong, vocal supporter of building the stadium when its cost and location were being criticised. He wrote about sport for the newspaper his father owned, and the same article says he coined the name Fla-Flu. That makes the stadium's formal name an unusual tribute: it honours a reporter who argued for the building, not a player or a politician.

The formal name

The stadium's formal name is Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, and Wikipedia says it was named in 1966, after his death. You will see that name in large letters on the front of the building, above the entrance columns, which is how visitors often learn it. Wikipedia gives the full name at the time as Estádio Jornalista Mário Rodrigues Filho, and the long form can appear in slightly different spellings. In everyday speech, in match reports and on the booking page, though, it stays the Maracanã.

What the name means for your map

For a visitor the practical lesson is simple. Search for the Maracanã, not for the formal name, when you look for the stadium on a map or for the metro station, which carries the short name. The booking page gives the address as Rua Professor Eurico Rabelo 219 in the Maracanã district, and the district name and the stadium name are the same word, so a map search with only that word finds the right neighbourhood.

A name that travelled

Wikipedia adds that the stadium of Red Star Belgrade, the Red Star Stadium, is popularly called Marakana in honour of the Brazilian ground. That is one measure of how far the name carried. If you search for the Maracanã in other languages, you may meet spellings such as Maracaná or Maracana, but the tilde belongs to the Portuguese word. Searching with the tilde, or without it, usually finds the same stadium, so use whichever your keyboard allows.

Read next: The Maracanã from 1950 to 2016

Who this isn't for

If all you want is practical information about the visit, this guide adds little to the tour page and the getting-there guide. It is background for readers who like to know where names come from. The other guides on this site cover the route, the history, the match-day alternative and how to find Gate A, and each ends with its sources so that you can check a claim for yourself.

Read next: Is the Maracanã tour worth it?