Filipino surnames as status indicator

November is always special for Filipino genealogists. For many, this month is a reminder of the moment most Filipino families started using official surnames, made possible by the decree enacted by Governor-General Narciso Claveria in 1849. Of course, as already explored in this column a few times before, it was not in 1849, nor in November, when people began to officially use family names since the implementation took a few months to reach most towns and for the local authorities to comply. For today, we will look at the possible connection between “good surnames” and power. This is, of course, simply an initial study which hopefully will begin the discussion on Filipino surnames as indicators of social status.

Most Filipinos have an inkling of what certain surnames stand for. When a Filipino hears “Zobel de Ayala”, one automatically associates the name with wealth and big business. People also automatically connect names with certain industries, such as Aboitiz is always associated with power, Pangilinan with SMART and PLDT, Gaisano with supermarkets, or Gokongwei with Cebu Pacific or Robinsons. And then finally, there are names that are automatically equated with specific places, like Osmeña to Cebu, Duterte to Davao, Cojuangco to Tarlac, and so on. It is with these premises that we start exploring surnames and status in the Philippines.

Not all surnames are created equal, that is a fact. There are very beautiful-sounding surnames, and there are surnames that are, to use a local term, “mabantot” (literally ‘stinky’ but also ‘unpleasant’). Let’s start with the most obvious grouping of surnames: the family names of Philippine presidents. Among presidential surnames, majority are Spanish in origin. Only Macapagal, Magsaysay, and Cojuangco aren’t Spanish last names. Macapagal and Magsaysay are both indigenous Filipino, while Cojuangco is an indigenized Chinese family name. Of the 16 surnames of presidents (Marcos appears twice), none can be classified as “mabantot”. Whether they were adopted in compliance of the Claveria surname decree (like Ramos, Ejercito, or Aquino) or if they already existed pre-Claveria (like Aguinaldo, Duterte, or Marcos), they are all “beautiful” last names with “beautiful” meanings.

Of the 60,662 surnames listed in the catalog of surnames, between 5-10% were unflattering, such as BOGOC (which means dumb, stupid, or slow); UNG-GOY (monkey); UNGO (monster); AGTA (in Cebuano folklore they were giant, dark-skinned men who perched on large branches and smoke foul-smelling cigars); or LIBANG (means ‘relaxation’ in Tagalog but in Cebuano it means ‘defecate’). So while these surnames existed and were used, why has there been no President Agta? Or President Libang? Similarly, if one goes through the list of governors of provinces or mayors of towns and cities in the Philippines, almost all (with a few exceptions in some areas) had either illustrious-sounding Spanish or Chinese names, or indigenous Filipino ones with flattering definitions. So far, I have not found a Mayor Bogoc, or Governor Ungo.

Many historians believe that surnames were “assigned” to families when the decree was implemented. But if this was case, how is it possible, then, that almost all prominent families have nice last names? Why are the unflattering family names not associated with the richer or more successful families? Since there is no evidence that surnames were simply assigned, it is more plausible to theorize that when the law was enacted, the principalia families were allowed to choose first. And while not all chose the “best” surnames, almost all picked Spanish last names. Naturally, none of the prominent families chose the surnames that were offensive, and thus these were left for the regular, ordinary families to choose as their official names.

Of course, this is just a start. Hopefully, we can dig deeper into the implementation of the Claveria surname decree and find out if, as is still true today, richer and more influential families had the first pick while the ordinary citizens were left with the scraps.