Nobody knows for certain, but the usual answer is “rock of the puma”. The name joins two Andean words: titi, a puma or wild cat in Aymara, and qaqa, a rock or crag in Quechua. It probably began as the name of one sacred rock on the Island of the Sun, in the Bolivian part of the lake, and only later spread to the whole lake.
That is the short version. Below are the other readings you’ll come across, the rock the name probably comes from, what people around the lake actually call it, and the legends tied to it.
Titicaca, word by word
| Word | Language | What it can mean |
|---|---|---|
| titi | Aymara | Puma or wild cat; also lead, a heavy metal |
| qaqa (written caca) | Quechua | Rock, crag or cliff |
| titiq’aq’a | Aymara | A grey or lead-coloured puma, in the anthropologist Weston La Barre’s 1948 reading |
Put together, that gives the three translations you’ll see most:
- Rock of the puma, the most common one, reading titi as puma and qaqa as rock.
- Grey puma, from La Barre’s reading of the whole name as one Aymara word.
- Crag of lead, reading titi as lead. It is the least romantic and the least often quoted.
It began as the name of a rock
At the northern end of the Isla del Sol, the Island of the Sun, stands a large outcrop known as the Sacred Rock, or Titikala. In Inca belief, this is where the sun was born, and the Inca made the island one of the great pilgrimage sites of their empire. Many historians think the name Titicaca first belonged to this rock and only later came to mean the whole lake. Some see it as a corruption of thakhsi cala, the rock’s name in the 15th and 16th centuries.
You can still walk to the rock. Our Copacabana and Isla del Sol day trip from Puno visits the south of the island; the Sacred Rock is about three hours’ walk north, so seeing it means a night on the island.
The puma on the map
Turn a map of the lake upside down and many people see a puma leaping at a rabbit. Guides on the lake love this story, and it fits “rock of the puma” nicely. It can’t be where the name comes from, though: nobody who named the lake ever saw it from above.
What people around the lake call it
Locals rarely say “Lake Titicaca”. In Puno it is simply el lago, the lake. The lake also has two parts with their own names, joined by the narrow Strait of Tiquina in Bolivia:
- Lago Mayor or Lago Grande, the large northern basin, also called Lago Chucuito. Puno, the Uros islands, Amantaní and Taquile are all on this side.
- Lago Menor or Lago Pequeño, the small southeastern basin, called Lago Wiñaymarka (Huiñaymarca) in Bolivia.
And because caca is a rude word in Spanish, Peruvians like to joke that the titi is in Peru and the caca is in Bolivia. Bolivians say it’s the other way round.
Legends tied to the lake
The name sits inside a much older set of stories. In the Inca creation myth, the god Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca and made the sun, the moon and the stars. In the Inca origin legend, Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo, children of the sun, came out of the lake and walked north until they found the place to found Cusco.
Some of the lake’s sacred history is now confirmed by archaeology. In 2019, a team publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences described offerings found underwater on the Khoa reef, off the Island of the Sun. They date from the Tiwanaku period, between about 500 and 1100 AD, centuries before the Inca, and include ceramic incense burners shaped like pumas, sacrificed young llamas, and gold, shell and stone ornaments. The puma, it seems, was tied to the lake long before anyone wrote the word down.
For more of the stories, read our guides to the legends of Lake Titicaca and the lake’s spiritual significance in Andean culture.
Lake Titicaca in numbers
| Altitude | 3,812 m (12,507 ft) above sea level |
| Area | 8,372 km², shared by Peru and Bolivia |
| Length and width | 190 km by 80 km |
| Depth | 281 m at the deepest point, 107 m on average |
| Claim to fame | The largest lake in South America, and often called the highest navigable lake in the world |
See the places behind the name
- The Uros floating islands, in the Bay of Puno: on our full-day Lake Titicaca tour from Puno, together with Taquile.
- The Island of the Sun and Copacabana, in Bolivia: on our Copacabana and Isla del Sol day trip.
- From Cusco: our 2-day Lake Titicaca tour from Cusco takes the Sun Route to Puno and visits the Uros and Taquile.
New to the lake? Start with our Puno and Lake Titicaca travel guide.
Frequently asked questions
What does Titicaca mean in English?
The usual translation is “rock of the puma”. Other readings are “grey puma” and “crag of lead”. Nobody knows for certain which was meant.
Is Titicaca an Aymara or a Quechua word?
Probably both: titi is Aymara for puma and qaqa is Quechua for rock. Some scholars read the whole name as a single Aymara word, titiq’aq’a, a grey puma.
Why is it called Lake Titicaca?
The name most likely belonged first to the Sacred Rock on the Island of the Sun, where the Inca believed the sun was born, and was later used for the whole lake.
How do you pronounce Titicaca?
Tee-tee-KAH-kah, with the stress on the third syllable.
Is Lake Titicaca in Peru or Bolivia?
Both. The border runs through the lake. Puno is the main town on the Peruvian side, and Copacabana on the Bolivian side.
Is Lake Titicaca the highest lake in the world?
No. Many smaller lakes sit higher in the Andes and the Himalaya. Lake Titicaca is often called the highest navigable lake, meaning the highest that large boats sail on.
Sources
- Lake Titicaca, Wikipedia: name, the Isla del Sol rock, Weston La Barre (1948), basin names and measurements
- Delaere, C. and others (2019), “Underwater ritual offerings in the Island of the Sun and the formation of the Tiwanaku state”, PNAS; summary from Penn State
Written by Sreeram Hariharan, founder of Planet Odysseys, a tour operator based in Cusco and Puno. Updated October 2026.