In the population count of 1791 there was a town with the name of Guancapla in the parish of Intibucá.

[1] While for a time the locality was called San Miguelito, Decree 166-84, promulgated by the Government of the Republic under the administration of Roberto Suazo Cordova on October 2, 1984, officially designated the name of the municipality as "San Miguel Guancapla".

Guancapla means "En los Guacales", which refers to a tree that produces a round fruit of woody pericarp, often used for containers.

[citation needed] At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, San Miguel Guancapla municipality had a population of 7,368.

Of these, 73.54% were Indigenous (73.22% Lenca), 16.72% Mestizo, 5.02% White, 4.06% Black or Afro-Honduran and 0.66% others.