What’s in a name?

by Mario Ugalino

One significant noticeable contribution to the Philippines from Spain, whose colonization of our Motherland the Philippines for almost 400 years, is our names.  Not necessarily our surnames but our first names.

Not until the 1970’s that Spanish first names started to disappear from the birth registries in the Philippines.  In the 70’s, English first names started to appear everywhere in our fronts.  Filipino parents started using English first names for their children.  Parents born during or around World War II (baby boomers) were taught at their school about “anything but America”.  They were taught how to read, write and speak English, more than ever before.  That was called “the Americanization of the Philippines” even though at that time we were about to be granted full independent freedom from being America’s colony in 1946.

I am not sure if the Philippines was correct in asking for independence from the United States right after the Philippines just got devastated by a war that destroyed the entire country and thousands of Her men have died defending Her.  There were thousands of Americans who also died defending the Philippines.  We were granted freedom from the Americans but their names stayed with us.

Soon the once popular Spanish first names began decreasing and more English names of Filipino children started to dominate the names of almost all of the baby-boomer’s children.   Popular names like Michael, Bradley, Joshua, John, Joseph, Jane, Jessica, Jennifer and more, are just a few examples of the trendsetting first names of children registered at the Philippines Birth Registries.

But the majority of most of us who were born in the Philippines before the 70’s, the first names given to us were mostly Spanish first names.  These names were given to us by our parents who were born mostly in the 20‘s or 30‘s.  Spanish first names are beautiful and outstanding names.  Names like Jose, Carlos, Rico or Vicente are examples of great Spanish first names that I enviously wished my first name should have been.  But for some of us, our first names are kind of hard for some people to pronounce especially here in the States.  How could my parents have given me the most unusual Spanish first name?  They explained that they named me after a saint.  Because of a Saint?!  How about my sake?

Rascal kids like to make fun of kids with funny or unusual names.  My parents, because they are non- judgmental people, to them using a saint’s name is okay.  What is important to them was naming their children after a saint.  My parents explain that not naming their children after some saint, contradicts what their forebears have taught them to do. Some other parents say it is “good luck” to name their children after a saint.

My baptismal name on record is unique.  Of course it is unique!  Where else would you find a name like Zacarias!  That is my baptismal name!  It would have been different if Zacarias was translated to its English version of Zachary.  Wow!  Zachary would have been a great name for me.  A very masculine sounding name!  But Zacarias?  Sorry if I offended those people who are connected to any Zacarias.  But all my life there are only a couple of people I know who are named Zacarias - one in San Clemente and one in Hawaii.  I would have been the third Zacarias as far as I know.  Hehehe!

My best friend growing up in San Clemente has the same story concerning his first name.  He told me “Alejandrino” is his baptismal name.  But his godmother who was a doctor in Magsingal, named him a different name which he uses ever since for as long as I can remember.  I jokingly told him that “Alejandrino” is not as bad compared to Zacarias“.  HeHeHe!.

Another example is my Filipino neighbor.  His baptismal name is “Pantaleon”.  Can you imagine when he went to school in Hawaii with that name?  They teased him so much at his school that he wanted to go back to the Philippines.  He finally changed his first name when he became a US citizen.  But he named his good-looking dog, Pantaleon just to remind him of his old name.

Also, one of my brothers (I have two older brothers) has a unique name.  I am not telling who he is.  His baptismal name is Ponciano.  To me looking at him, he does not look like a Ponciano.  In fact, he did not use this name at all.  Nobody knows he’s Ponciano.  I have a cousin living in Magsingal named Ponciano Ugalino but that is a different Ponciano.  I cannot imagine calling my brother Manong Ciano as that would have been his nickname.  Mention this to him right now and he would probably start laughing profusely.  “Just do not have anybody hear it”, he always reminded me when we were younger.  I consider my two brothers as great brothers!

Lastly, my mother’s first name is a tongue twister to most non-Filipinos.  All her life, the whole town of Magsingal knows her as “Siping”.  She used Eufemia in school.  But how did they come up with the name Siping as her nickname?  I do not know.  When she came to the States, she learned that her name on her baptismal and government birth certificate is “Exuperia”.  She did not know about her name Exuperia until she came to the States.  While she was working in Hawaii, most of her co-workers called her “Expo” for short because pronouncing Exuperia was hard for most of them to pronounce.  But she loves her name Exuperia so much that she did not change her name to a whatever name she could have wanted when she became a US citizen.  Maybe she could have changed her name from Exuperia into a name like Exemplary or Excellent.  Her nickname would have been EX.  Hehehe!

For those Magsingalenos who have changed their given names into a better and easier to pronounce names, I respect you!  But for those Kailians who have never changed their given names, You have GUTS!  Aloha to everyone!