Speaker
Description
Tracing the origins of surnames reveal more than familial affinity. Names are records and repositories of histories, contacts, movements, place and place-making, heritage, trade, cultural practices, aspirations, and occupations; and they also mark individuality and group affinity. In the study of Filipino last names, Philippine dictionaries were consulted to identify the components and meanings of these surnames which resulted in a fascinating discovery of a people’s precolonial culture history and recent histories of contact and colonisation. While onomastics, or the study of personal names, is certainly not a novel field, tracing the origins of last names in a multilingual situation with a high level of linguistic diversity, is definitely challenging.
Although a number of Filipino surnames are foreign in origin, i.e., there are numerous surnames that can be traced back to Spanish and several Chinese languages, the study focuses on indigenous surnames. Various Philippine dictionaries were consulted to trace the origin of the word, identify its structure, and unpack the meaning embedded in the root and its affixes. In the etymological archaeology of these surnames, the main challenges that were encountered are: (1) some roots have varying meanings across languages; (2) homonymity can sometimes leave the researcher in doubt; (3) the structural complexity of some forms given that Philippine languages agglutinative languages; and (4) some forms underwent phonological or orthographic changes. Because of these challenges, some surnames kept their stories hidden, hoping to be revisited.
