Jan 24 2008
More on Names
Ginebra Miguela Macalinao, Berdugo Lintang, Jenny Bagong-Gahasa, Noel Hinampas, and Linda Panti – these hilarious names came from Rayts. Evil Big Brother (and I say evil with much affection) had a classmate whose name is Johnny Go (must be related to Edgar Allan Pe). And in merry old England, Gypsy said that Brit parents had a grand total of six names to choose from… Mark, John, Colin, Andy, David, and Tim.
Carlotta’s dog is Sputnik. Gina’s is Tabachingching. Kongkong622’s dogs are also Pssst!, Hoy, and then there are Pogi and Khadaffi. Zherwin’s dogs are Tiriray, Tilandi, and Kikay.
Verns‘ future children are Liam and Olive. Rayts’ are Josephine and Miguel.
And what do you know… it appears that Snglguy is descended from some ancient Chinese dynasty (Ming Dynasty? Or Tang Dynasty?). BTW, Snglguy means Single Guy and NOT Snuggle Guy.
Don’t you think I got great comments on my last entry (not the usual comments which merely solicit my comments to their own blogs)? I think that only Daphne got the amba joke. 
I also got some great genealogy software from Wil and Sexy Mom. Anyway, the comments got me to thinking more about names. We Filipinos are like John the Baptist. We love to baptize people with new names. The old man is always baptized Tatang. The bitch in the office is called Bruha. And the young looking saleslady is Neneng or Neng.
When we first arrived in Cambodia, we lived in a big empty house which had three bedrooms but only one bed. We had our own maid at that time. She is one of the few Cambodians who have a Western name… Mary. And because she was our maid, we called her Maid Mary (not to her face of course) like one of those fair maidens in ye olde Robin Hood and King Arthur stories.
Now, we live in an apartment (two bedrooms, two beds) and there’s a maid provided by our landlady who comes in everyday to clean and do the laundry. She doesn’t speak a word of English and I know only tiktik (very little) Khmer. But we are both very fluent in pantomine. When she points to a glass and then to the floor and then suddenly opens her hand from a fist, it means that she broke a glass while washing dishes. When she points to Honey’s pants and shows me a gaping hole, it means she burnt his pants again. You see… we understand each other. Anyway, I tried asking her name but she didn’t understand my question so I didn’t understand her reply either. So we just call her Inday.
“Honey, Inday is here to collect our laundry… do you have any more shirts for her to destroy in the washing machine?”
“Honey, look Inday washed the dishes. I’ll just have to do it all over again because these spoons and forks are still greasy.
Don’t get me wrong though… I love Inday. She cleans really well (except under the beds and in the corners… haaaay!).
And then, there’s a Filipino family who lives directly upstairs. They have a hyper-active little boy who we can hear play from dawn to midnight. We call him Junior and we always look up to our ceiling and pretend to reprimand him though he can neither see or hear us, “Junior, it’s time to go to bed. Stop playing with your basketball.â€
“Junior, you’re going to be a great Interior Designer. You’re always rearranging the furniture.â€
“Junior, it’s almost midnight… stop playing with your father’s drill.â€
So, there’s Maid Mary, Inday, and Junior. Those really aren’t their names (though Maid Mary comes close) because it’s not the names written in their birth certificates. According to my professor in law school, you can’t change the name that’s indicated in your birth certificate. That’s definitely bad news for Berdugo Lintang. However, my professor also said the a petition for change of name may be allowed when the name is ridiculous, tainted with dishonor, or is extremely difficult to write or pronounce.
“For example,†he told my class. “John Bulalakaw wants to change his name. The court may allow it because it is funny and he can change his name to Peter Bulalakaw!â€
Haha… a lot of things I learned in law school, huh.
But anyway, it may sound funny, but it’s really not because Bulalakaw actually means comet which is a beautiful heavenly body.
As for my Alphasmart Neo, I wanted to name it Tekla, short for Teklada, which means keyboard but… I can’t do it. Tekla is simply too… well, Tekla.
It’s Grand Slam again and Honey and I have been playing around with the names of the tennis players in the Australian Open. We call the Serbian player Jelena Jankovic (who made it to the semis but was beaten by Sharapova)… Weird Al Yancovic.
And then, whenever the commentator announces these two players names, we always end up rolling on the floor laughing. These players are… Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jose Acasuso. (Tsonga actually made it to the semi-finals and will go against Nadal today.) They may not be funny to most people, but for Filipinos, they’re hilarious. Just try repeating the names of Tsonga and Acasuso over and over again
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natawa ako sa peter bulalakaw hehehe.
meron kami dating japanese teacher dito, ang last name nya Fukeh, nung first time nyang magpakilala, syempre merong reaksyon sa mga pinoy, akala nya di naintindihan ang pagkakasabi ng last name nya so inulit-ulit nya, not knowing na iba ang naiisip ng mga pinoy. nung malaman nya kung ano ito sa pilipino, ayun, everytime na magpapakilala sya me kasama nang ngiti sabay kindat hehehe, nagkaron tuloy ng malisya.
btw, lalaki sya.
You can almost conclude you were an unwanted child if nobody liked you enough to come up with a nickname for you. So my brother Rhy has no nickname…what does that say about him? Sssshhhh, hopefully he doesn’t read this comment! Hahah!
The names Pinoy give to their kids these days are bizzare and almost cryptic, perhaps in an attempt to be original. If I see a first name that’s strange-sounding and a Spanish last name, I’d bet he/she would be a Pinoy
I am in fact a “victim” of this
MY parents game me a very original name and I doubt if I’ll ever have a tukayo even after my lifetime hehe 
is that really the case? You cannot change the name in your birth certificate?
The thing is the name Laura was only added to my baptismal certificate after the priest told my mother that Daphne is not a ‘holy’ name. So they added Laura in honor of the patron saint of my birth date. So in my birth certificate it is only Daphne. Imagine that a priest actually insisting that my first name is not holy enough. Marunong pa siya sa parents ko. hehehe
don’t you just love crazy names? merong isang apelyidong hinding-hindi ko makakalimutan: gago. no joke! ang me ari nito ay isang dating contestant na babae sa mr. and ms. university (international competition) several years ago. sabi ng pinsan ko (contestant din sya dun the same time) galing sya sa south america. di ko nga lang maalala kung anong bansa.
sa mga pinoy naman pansin ko malimit din ang mga “lyn” sa pangalan ng babae at palaging suffix–edelyn, jonalyn, babylyn, jovylyn at kung anu-ano pang unique na prefix na maikakabit sa lyn.
eto pa. nickname ng isang family friend na taga states? boylet
matanda na sya pero yun parin ang tawag sa kanya hanggang ngayon. pinagtatawanan nga namin (secretly) ng mga pinsan ko at kahit mga friends ko na kinuwentuhan ko nito di makalimutan hehehe sama ba? 
Zherwin, mwahahahahaha… Fukeh!
Pinayhekmi, kawawa naman si Rhys.
Haha… inaapi mo baby brother mo. 
But I like that name… Rhys… it has a certain something to it. 
BW, so you’re real name is Buff Wings?
Daphne, that’s right. You need to petition the court for a change of name. But if you already have a passport with Laura, they usually just follow that when you renew it (that is, if you have a green passport). Haha… kakatawa yung pari… unholy daw pangalan mo.
Carlotta, oh yeah… we love adding lyn. I wonder why. Nakakatawa naman yung Gago at Boylet. Yung mga Baby din.. hanggang matanda na sila… Baby pa rin. Achaka yung mga Tito and Tita… they’re Tito and Tita to everyone.
Ah ok thanks for the info, Toe.
Yes I have a green passport which I will eventually need to renew and this time use my married name na, without the Laura para walang gulo pa. Headache inducing stress to get a court petition just to add my ‘holy name’ hehe
Tsonga and Acasuso…Tsonga and Acasuso…nyahaha! kakatawa ka talaga!
Filipinos are also fond of repeating names no? example: Jun-Jun, An-An, Tan-Tan. Tapos di pa nakuntento, mahilig din tayong maglagay ng “h” (kung saan pwedeng isingit) example: Jhun-Jhun, Lhiza, Leah (pangalan to ng mga pinsan ko, hehehe!). Here’s another observation, kung ano ang unang letra ng pangalan ng ama, usually yun din ang start ng pangalan ng mga anak. Parang kami, lahat nag-start sa “R”…korni. karamihan din sa mga pinsan ko ganun ang strategy sa names. hasus! O kung di man, kumbinasyon ng pangalan ng parents. kahit masagwa pakinggan, pinagpipilitan. Halimbawa: Marotte (Mario at Charlotte, nyar!).
dami talaga pwedeng pag-usupan pag tungkol sa mga names.
@ Carlotta—hala mo! gf ni Zherwin Lyn ang name hahahaha
Toe yung mga paborito kong pinsan nickname nila: Bing-Bing, Ding-Dong and Amay (they’re brothers)
Meron din akong mga nephews na nickname nila ganito : Panok and Bopet
Yung mga pinsan nila Panok and Bopet, nickname Go-Go and Ta-Ta (si Tata lalaki)
All of them were nicknamed by only one person so that figures hehehe
It is not easy all those nicknames. I am used to call people by their nicknames (all the time) and it is quite embarrassing when I need to fill in official papers on their behalf and I don’t know their real name.
Boknoy… eh… what is your real name again. ;-(
My observation is that most maids are called Inday and Inday is a term used for a Bisaya girl like Neneng for Tagalog. Oh well.
My brother’s name is Jigger and when we had a big fight when we were kids, I started calling our new dog Jigger. Sweet vengeance.
Daphne, don’t worry… court petition or not, you will always be Daphne Laura to me.
Rayts, hey, Tsonga made it to the finals. Ang baho nga e… hahaha!
I know of two brothers na pinagsama din yung mga pangalan ng magulang. Their names are Odemar and Marlon, I forgot the names of the parents though.
Hahaha… mahilig nga tayo sa paulit-ulit na pangalan. Ang kulit-kulit kc ng mga magulang e.
Achaka din yung magsingit ng H – ahnohhhvahhhuyhhhhhhannn???!!!! 
Verns, and could that one person perhaps be you?
Sidney, hahaha… it would be strange to put Boknoy on official papers like passports.
Abaniko, aha! I knew it… you may sound sweet to your sister in your blog, but you are really also an Evil Big Brother (evil with a lot of affection of course).
Finally, I can view your site **huhhh** ! TEKLA was my code name before and my ex-bf was GORIO ! It was our friends idea
, I don’t know why ?
Would you believe I had this classmate in first year high whose first name is… EVENFLO? And we used to call him “tsupon”.
I’m guessing that his parent’s must’ve been searching for a name after he was born and they saw the name on a baby bottle, and it stuck.
I think Jun’s classmate, Johnny Go, is the Fr. Johnny of Xavier School. If they were classmates in college in Ateneo, he probably is the same one
Haze, haha… cute… Goria and Tekla.
Snglguy, THAT is hilarious! Evenflo and Tsupon… hahaha! My sister emailed me just to tell me how funny it is.
Ollie, Fr. Johnny Go is even funnier.
Naku, kasalanan ba yung sinabi ko? 
The “Marotte” name got me hard… My grandpa named my father and his siblings alphabetically and eventually got to letter J to which their names were a mixture of Spanish, Chinese & English… Imagine names such as Abundiano (Spanish), Baudillo (Spanish), Chester (English), Deanna (English), Estefania (Spanish), Fetong (derived from Chinese name), Gabin (Chinese name again), Iva & Jean…
On my side since the first three are all girls, though they have single names but all of them have two syllables with the 2nd syllable sounds alike except the spelling is different… Imagine Julie, Lily, Shirley… o di ba, kakaiba…
At least during their times medyo hindi mahirap bigkasin at sulatin yung mga pangalan… The kids that I know right now have names so original that even when you pronounce it, it’s difficult (based on my experienced as a teacher’s aide in a nursery class)… one description: tongue-twisting
Tin, my goodness… it must be hard to think of names for ten children… but doing it alphabetically is definitely a good way to go.
Tongue-twisting talaga yung mga pangalan ngayon. 