What’s in a name?

Natividad is such a common Filipino surname that we forget that it comes from the Spanish word for “nativity.” In English, nativity can refer to three things: the process of being born, the birth of Jesus Christ, or a “nativity scene” that has Jesus in a manger, surrounded by Joseph, Mary, multiracial “Three Kings,” shepherds, cow, donkey, sheep, and an angel flying above them all carrying a sign that reads “Gloria in excelsis Deo” (Glory to God in the Highest).

American teachers dispatched to the Philippines in the early 1900s to establish the public school system found their classes and class lists populated with unfamiliar names drawn at birth or baptism from the Roman Catholic calendar or martyrology. Natividad is one of the names in a curious pamphlet “A list of Philippine Baptismal Names” published by the Bureau of Education in 1905.

In October 1903, David Barrows, head of the insular Bureau of Education and future president of the University of California, received in his Manila office a list of over 1,000 children’s names (incomplete of course), compiled from school registers and calendars by E.E. Schneider, a teacher assigned in Ambos Camarines. Schneider’s list was then worked on by Emerson Christie who went over 25,000 names in the cedula lists of Manila to ascertain correct spelling and weed out doubtful names, he even added the Spanish accents on the names as dictated by the Academia Real de la Lengua Española (Royal Academy on the Spanish Language). Christie observed that “Filipino teachers … frequently careless in this matter, and, through neglect and the absence of proper standards, the spelling of proper names in the Philippines has undergone great corruption.”

I read through all the names from A to Z and noticed that there were no entries under “X” and “Y.” Names that began with “Y” were placed under “I.” In the “Noli Me Tangere” manuscript, Jose Rizal spelled the surname of the main character as “Ybarra,” but when the novel was printed the surname appeared as “Ibarra.” None under X, not even Xerxes, or the Jesuit saint Francis Xavier. I recalled Dr. X of the X Men whose name in Spanish would be Javier. Quaint names under Z were: Zacharias, Zenaides, Zenas, Zenobio(a), Zenon/a, Zoa, Zoe, Zoelo, Zoilo/a, Zosimo/a, and Zotico. Some Spanish names could be unisex depending on the last vowel: Maria to Mario, Escolastica to Escolastico. Teresa to Tereso. Benito to Benita.Quaint names under U: Ubaldo, Uldarico, Ulpiano, Ulrica, Urbano/a, Ursino, Urso, Ursula, Urselino/a. I found under W: Walfrido, Wenceslao, Wilibrodo, Wiro, Wistremundo. I recognized many names, thanks to the many happy years spent in a Benedictine monastery where I was once known as Dom. Ignacio Maria or “Nacho.” Here I was taught not to bother San Antonio de Padua, patron saint of lost objects, whose line is always busy. If you want to find a lost object quickly, go for St. Cucufate, ancient Spanish martyr.

Culled from calendars, many names were references to Church feasts and solemnities: Ascencion (Jesus ascension into Heaven), Dedicacion (Dedication of ancient Roman Churches), Exaltacion (Exaltation of the Cross), Encarnacion (The Incarnation), Epifanio/a (Epiphany), Natividad (Nativity or Christmas), Presentacion (Presentation at the Temple), Resurreccion (The Resurrection), Pentecostes (Pentecost), and Visitacion (The Visitation). I am sure that the prudish Americans deliberately left out Circuncision (Feast of the Circumcision formerly celebrated on Jan. 1 now changed into the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God).

The names of the “Three Kings” are on the list: Baltasar/a, Gaspar/a, and Melchor/a. “Tandang Sora” refers to the heroine of the Philippine Revolution who was born Melchora Aquino. Virtues were represented as Felisa (happiness), Honesto (honesty), Modesto (modesty), Simplicio/a (simplicity), Perseveranda (perseverance), Prudencio and Prudenciana (prudence). The theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity were rendered in Spanish as Fe, Esperanza, and Caridad, names reserved for women. There was an abundance of Marias and Marian feasts: Anunciacion (Anunciation of the Virgin), Asuncion (Assumption), Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows), Nieves (Our Lady of Snows), Naval (La Naval de Manila), and Inmaculada Concepcion (Immaculate Conception, Dec. 8).

Not all names were Catholic, there were a lot of names from ancient Greece and Rome, especially under A: Agapito, Agatocoloa, Agaton/a, Agatonico/a, Agatopedes, Aglae, Agoardo, Agricola, Agripino/a, Atendoro/a, Atenogenes, Austreberta/o, Austregisilo/a. I remembered grade school math and geometry with Euclides, Cuadrado, and Cuartilla. I was amused by Pragmatico, Temistocles, Verecundo, and Torcuato. Even Macrobio would be mistaken today for Microbio. In the 21st century, we have a new breed of names that deserves another listing from the Department of Education.

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