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Does anyone know their original name?

Back in 19th century Spain forced all Filipinos to change their name to Spanish. I've asked my wife and many others about their original name but they don't know. Do you?

Update:

Hehe - you're right. Bom Chika Wah Wah doesn't sound Spanish☺

16 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    fortunately, our family retained the original filipino names.

    tagalog

    jubay

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    Rylan Fletcher Finley Madden Hansen Vota Orion Lennox Beckham Lee Jenson Reese Harlan James Lyndon Cooper Alastair Bentley Kai Mullin Vince Oliver Ronan Evans hmmm that was hard:)

  • 1 decade ago

    I have spanish family names on both my maternal and paternal side of the family but i think no one remembers anymore what the original Filipino names were. The thing is, a greater percentage of my aunts, uncles and cousins have Chinese features more than the mestizo/mestiza features of the Spaniards...where else can you find Chinese-looking people but with Spanish names but in the Philippines???

  • 1 decade ago

    I know Imy answer is not exactly to the point, becuase I'm not Filipino at all.

    But I can tell you, that Filipinos before ~1849 did choose their surnames ad libitum (as they like). They selected names of religious touch (e.g. de los Santos), or of chieftains or whatever they considered nice. Even members of onme family could have different names.

    The result was a light havoc, esp. for administrative purposes like census and taxes. So the Spaniards ordered 1849 each family of Filipinos to select a name out of a catalog of surnames (Catálogo alfabético de apellidos) they compiled in advance.

    Personally I believe, almost nobody can remeber the "original" familyname before 1849 because surnames didn't mean much to Filipinos at that time. It was just imposed on them before 1849 and after 1849 just again.

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  • 1 decade ago

    My last name is NOT Spanish, doesn't sound Spanish at all. Even the etymology of my surname does not borrow any word or phrase from the Spanish language. Pure Indio.

  • 1 decade ago

    most of the filipino's names are malakas, maganda, maliksi, matatag, , and most of them have similar names so the spanish people had a very hard time distinguishing who is who, ,but in the cordilleras, most surnames came from where they came from,,eg, bomas-ang means from the mountains, ,

  • MAGpie
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    300 of spanish occupation, no wonder most of us forgot our original Filipino names. I knew that some Aetas in Zambales somehow retained their native names.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    my family name came from a spanish traveler.

    i've checked out others, still spanish(like my moms, or my mom's mom)

    but i know people who's family names are really pure pinoy like "mabunga".

  • 1 decade ago

    No, haven't given it much thought.

    But if you like, I'd set my Time Machine on and find out. Although, whatever should I do with that knowledge? Would knowing my true

    surname was "Batong Buhay" (Livingstone) make me any more mystical than I am now?

  • Ellen
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    The best way is to check documentaion with churches if still available.

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