What's in a Filipino surname?

It is ironic that Filipinos, who are known for being clannish, forget who their ancestors are five generations back, although we have such terms in Tagalog as lolo sa noo, lolo sa tuhod, lolo sa talampakan (great, great, great-grandparent). I’m referring to the lack of genealogy, which is a relatively new study in the Philippines, but not for the Muslims who keep their tarsilas updated.

A dictionary defines genealogy as "an account of the descent of a person, or "an enumeration of ancestors and their descendants in the natural order of succession."

The Hebrew people traced their descent from Adam through Noah and Abraham. The Gospel according to Matthew lists the ascendants of Jesus in 42 generations from Abraham through David.

The Ifugaos, while worshipping their anitos, invoke their ancestral spirits before the rites begin. This enumeration of ancestors has made it possible for them to remember 10 generations back. Giving 25 years for every generation, that goes back to some 250 years!

Another importance of the genealogy is in connection with inheritance, be it either wealth or power. For the Filipino community, the principle of inheritance unites or divides, leading families through power and status. Among the Filipino Muslims of Mindanao, succession to the sultanate and their trace to purity of blood have made the recording of genealogies known as tarsilas or salsilas or sali-silas very necessary.

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Since the majority of Christians didn’t have written genealogies or they forget them, in 1849 they Narciso Claveria, governor and captain general of the Philippines, unleashed a decree on the issuance of surnames complied in the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos. Claveria observed that the natives lacked individual surnames which distinguished them by families. They had adopted the names of saints so thousands of individuals had the same surname. That led to confusion in the administration of public order, justice, government, and finance such as tax collection. Family names were not transmitted from parents to their children, making it often impossible to prove the degree of consanguinity for purposes of marriage.

The religious orders compiled the list. They found that indigenous surnames of vegetables and mineral kingdoms, geography, arts, fish, animals were our family names. In the Visayan island of Panay, there existed the families whose names were Buquid meaning hill, Bocboc meaning beetle, Taytay meaning bridge. Expediting the process, the provincial governor allocated through the parish priests and the cabecerias a number of pages from the Catalogo for each province and each town from which the people chose their surnames. That’s the reason why surnames in some provinces begin with a particular letter. For example, Albay, Sorsogon and Catanduanes in 1849 belong to the single jurisdiction of Albay. Many of the names in these areas ended up beginning with A such as Abada, Alegre and Abella. The letters B and C marked the towns along the coast beyond Tabaco and Tiwi. Along the coast of Sorsogon, family names began with E and L. In the Iraya Valley at Daraga, M was a dominant letter for family names. As a result, this arrangement bonded relatives, identified provincemates and acquaintances from other provinces.

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The process went like this:

Each cabeza de barangay was called to be present with his constituents. The person who chose a surname was the oldest or the father of each family. In case a family did not desire to change their surname, they had to present their genealogy indicating they had kept their surname for four generations. Most of the natives in Laguna, Pampanga and Batangas did not change their surnames. Some families in Laguna retained their indigenous names such as Karunungan (knowledge), Karamihan (mostly), Kahabagan (pity). While in Pampanga – Makapagal (tiresome) and Gatmaitan (cornfield) remain. In Batangas, the Dimayuga (cannot be shaken), Dimagiba (cannot be destroyed), Dimatulac (cannot be pushed), Dimalanta (cannot be withered) are well-known family names.

Children whose parents were dead were given surnames of their paternal grandparents. In the absence of this, the surname of the brother or relatives of their father was adopted to avoid unnecessary multiplicity of surnames.

That accomplished, it was entered into a registry. The punishment of changing surnames with malice was eight days in prison, unless one could pay a fine of P3.

A problem encountered in tracing Filipino ancestors were illegitimate children and those children of the priests. Governor-General Narciso Claveria remedied this problem.

"The children of unknown fathers shall be given the surname of the mother, and if this is also unknown, the surname of the guardian, or baptismal sponsor or of the parish priest in case the sponsor does not allow it."

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Claveria’s decree was promulgated among my friends, the banished Samal Moros in the Province of Isabela. Several of these Moros were baptized and adopted the surnames of their sponsors. Gaffud, Purugganan, Pagulayan, Kaligiran, Flores, Lasam or listed as Flora Mora.

No longer would names be Kabuntian, meaning abundant green vegetables, fresh and pleasant to the eyes. Baptized Indios were named after Castillan kings. The Rajah of Cebu was baptized "Don Carlos" after Charles V of Spain. Sultan Alimuddin of Sulu became Rey Fernando I.

The names of Chinese migrants were also changed by Claveria upon their baptism assuming their sponsors’ names. In some instances, Chinese names were joined together to form surnames, Yaptinchay, Cojuangco, Cabochan, Teehankee, Locsin, Dizon, Quiazon, Tanchanco, Yapdiangco, Uytengsu, Tuason. Following the natural order in reading Chinese character, Yaptinchay went this way – Chay Tin Yap; Son Quia (Quiason) Su Teng Uy (Uytengsu), Son Di (Dizon), Kee Han Tee (Teehankee), Son Tua Jor (Tuason).

Early 17th-century manuscripts called Legajo or the bundle labeled Cedulario Royal Laws for Overseas Colonies record the descendants of "Ladyang Matanda" or Rajah Matanda as Polintan, Guinto, Punzalang, Gatchalian, Pilak, Gatmaitan, Pasig, Kalangitan and Gatdula.

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Compare that to England where some forebears such as McArthur meant son of Arthur, McGavin, son of Gavin, FitzGerald, son of Gerald, O’Donnell, son of Donnell.

In the Philippines, when they see Peping they say "ama ni Mikee." His name should be Amamik, kidding aside, through my daughter. Ambaristo then meant "ama ni Evaristo," Ambayec, "ama ni Bayec " Amansec, "ama ni Ansec."

In Spain, family names that ended in letter Z or S like Rodriguez indicated son of Rodrigo, Dominguez, son of Domingo, Enriquez, son of Enrico, Yñiguez, son of Yñigo, Ynares, son of Ynaro.

In the final analysis, we still did find several surnames of saints used as family names. There were San Francisco, San Antonio, San Pedro, Sto. Tomas, San Luis which at the same could have been used as first names. Maybe Indios were more ingenious or hard-headed than the Spaniards, especially Claveria.