There are numerous theories about the place name origin of the word Belize or "Belice" in Spanish:
It is attributed to the bad pronunciation of the surname of a Scottish pirate named Peter Wallace.
To the French word "baliza" which in Portuguese is very similar to "beliza".
Although, according to the chronicles of Fray José Delgado who come from 1677, the Belize River was already named by the Maya with the word <u>"balis"</u>, which translates <u>"muddy"</u> and is very similar to the current word used, by this reason is considered Maya that term.
