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This is the blog of Ian Rosales Casocot. Filipino writer. Sometime academic. Former backpacker. Twink bait. Hamster lover.

Email: icasocot(at)gmail.com

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Tuesday, April 02, 2024

entry arrow9:58 PM | Pinoy Names

Most countries have standardized naming conventions [some even have regulations controlling the creation of names, like Japan]. But the Philippines is something else, no? Certainly, we have standard names that spring from local, or Spanish, or American derivations — but a quick look at contemporary name lists is always a revelation. It's mostly a postmodern mishmash of everything, including pop culture and random letters, and intentional misspellings of standard names. Kemyruth Jimenez? Nicki Minaj Montes? Xyzy Gomia? Elijah Yllys Garcia? Xybelle Flores? Maningning or Irene or Epefania could never. What's the strangest name of a Pinoy you know?

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[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich



Tuesday, April 20, 2021

entry arrow7:50 PM | Claveria-ized



This is Governor General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, the one responsible for the Hispanization of most of our surnames in the Philippines, courtesy of the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos, implemented by the Claveria Decree of 1849. It imposed control on the population via naming, thus erasing the native conventions of naming.

But the catalogue also contained pre-approved "native names" for families to choose from. I searched for my obviously non-Spanish surname to see if it's there, and the closest I could find was "Casocoy," which makes me wonder: Did my Boholano ancestors get their name from the catalogue? And did they eventually misspell it with a "T" over the ensuing decades?



You can find the catalogue here.

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[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich



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