"Ejutla" is from the Nahuatl "exotl" and "tla", meaning "place of abundant green beans"; "Crespo" is for Fr. Manuel Sabino Crespo, who fought alongside Morelos in the War of Independence and was executed on 19 October 1815 and in whose memory the State Congress decreed a change in the name from Villa de Ejutla to Heroica Ciudad de Ejutla de Crespo on 11 December 1885.