Filipino Middle Names
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This is some background on history, popularity, and usage of middle names in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
.


Maternal names

Christians (as well as certain Muslims, Chinese Filipinos, and others) in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
formerly followed naming patterns practiced throughout the Spanish-speaking world (the practice of having the father's surname followed by the mother's surname, the two being connected by the particle "y", which means "and", such as ''Guillermo Cu-Unjieng y Araullo''). If the second surname starts with ''i'', ''y'', ''hi'' or ''hy'', the particle becomes ''e'', following Spanish rules of euphony, as in ''
Eduardo Dato e Iradier Eduardo Dato e Iradier (12 August 1856 – 8 March 1921) was a Spanish political leader during the Spanish Restoration period. He served three times as Spanish prime minister: from 27 October 1913 to 9 December 1915, from 11 June 1917 to 3 Nov ...
''. Sometimed this second rule is overlooked. This practice changed when the Philippines became a
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
colony in the early 20th century. The order was reversed to follow the conventional American form "Christian name -
Middle name In various cultures, a middle name is a portion of a personal name that is written between the person's first given name and their surname. A middle name is often abbreviated and is then called middle initial or just initial. A person may be ...
- Surname," which in this case is actually "Christian name - Mother's surname - Father's surname" (Francisco Concepcion Casas or simply Francisco C. Casas). The conjunction ''y'' was dropped, although it is still used in certain contexts today (most notably names in
criminal record A criminal record, police record, or colloquially RAP sheet (Record of Arrests and Prosecutions) is a record of a person's criminal history. The information included in a criminal record and the existence of a criminal record varies between coun ...
s, like the names used in placards used in
mug shot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law ...
s, such as shown in the image on the right). Currently, the middle name is usually, though not always, the mother's maiden name (followed by the last name which is the father's surname). This is the opposite of what is done in Spanish-speaking countries and is similar to the way surnames are done in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The blending of American and Spanish naming customs results in the way Filipinos write their names today. Furthermore, application forms for various legal documents define the first name as the "Christian name(s)," the middle name as the "mother's maiden surname" (this becomes the basis for the middle initial), and the surname as the "father's surname." Bearing the mother's maiden surname as the middle name or middle initial is more important to a majority of Filipinos than to use one of the given names as a middle name or middle initial. Filipino culture usually allocates equal value to the lineage from both mother and father except in some prominent families who practice a strictly patriarchal system (usually of Spanish or Chinese heritage). Exceptions apply in the case of children with single parents. Children born out of wedlock bear their mother's surname as their surname, with no middle name. The unmarried father must resort to legal and administrative procedures if he desires to acknowledge the child as his own and for the child to be registered with his own surname (in which case the child will use the mother's surname as his/her middle name). Exceptions also apply to Filipino children who have non-Filipino descent.


Maiden and married names

When a woman marries, she may: use her maiden first name and surname and add her husband's surname; use her maiden first name and her husband's surname; or use her husband's full name, but prefixing a word indicating that she is his wife, such as “Mrs.” She may also decline to adopt her husband's surname and continue to use her maiden name since there is no law in the Philippines which obligates a married woman to use the surname of her husband.{{cite web, url=http://manilatimes.net/no-philippine-law-obligates-married-woman-to-drop-her-maiden-name/14771/, title=No Philippine law obligates married woman to drop her maiden name, author=Acosta, Persida, date=July 1, 2013, work=Manila Times, accessdate=February 4, 2014 * A woman may use her birth surname after marriage. However, once she has opted to use the surname of her husband, she shall continue using it until her marriage with her husband is validly terminated, such as through
annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning al ...
, subject to certain conditions. * All children from this marriage will automatically have the mother's birth surname as their middle name, and the father's surname as their surname. Until the middle of the 20th century, it was common for married Filipino women to insert the particle "de" ("of") between her maiden surname and husband's surname (as in ''Margarita Mangahas de Santos'' or ''Margarita M. de Santos''), another common Spanish naming custom. However, this practice is no longer common. Married Filipino women who are professionals may choose to hyphenate their surnames (such as ''Margarita Mangahas - Santos'', instead of simply ''Margarita Santos'' or ''Margarita M. Santos''), at least in professional use, and use it socially even if legal documents follow a different naming pattern. This practice allows others to identify them after their marriage and helps others keep track of their professional achievements; otherwise, her unmarried and married names would seem to refer to two different persons (''Margarita Gomez Mangahas'' as compared to ''Margarita Mangahas-Santos'').


Middle initials

Before digitization of records, middle initials and sorting of surnames follow the first letter of the name after Hispanic ''de'', ''dela'', ''del'', ''delos''. For example, the name ''Jose delos Santos dela Cruz'' is shortened as ''Jose S. dela Cruz'' and surname sorted on the letter C. Today, the middle initial must be the letter D (''Jose D. dela Cruz'') and surname sorted in the letter D. There have been a few documented exceptions, such as
Benigno S. Aquino III Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III (; February 8, 1960 – June 24, 2021), also known as Noynoy Aquino and colloquially as PNoy, was a Filipino politician who served as the 15th president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. The son of ...
,
Jose P. Laurel José Paciano Laurel y García (; March 9, 1891 – November 6, 1959) was a Filipino people, Filipino politician, lawyer, and judge, who served as the president of the Japanese-occupied Second Philippine Republic, a puppet state during World W ...
, and
Manuel L. Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his de ...
, whose middle initials actually stand for their second given names, that is, Western-style middle names Simeon, Paciano, and Luis respectively.


References

Filipino given names Asian given names