Spanish Rules on Alphabetizing Surnames

Can you spot the wrong filing of some names?

 Whenever somebody asks me to look into the Catalogo and see if their surname is listed I sometimes find family names placed elsewhere in the page or in another page even when the rules of alphabetizing say otherwise. This imperfect alphabetization of the list of surnames in the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos is understandable. The persons tasked to come up with the list had to alphabetize tens of thousands of family names and without the aid of modern technology they were obviously bound to alphabetize the names incorrectly here and there.

Another common question I usually get asked is: how do we alphabetize surnames that have particles before them? How do we arrange surnames such as de los Reyes, Lasso de la Vega, de Veyra, and others like them that sometimes confuse people when trying to put them in a list with other surnames?

The truth is, alphabetizing surnames does not always follow the same rules. If we pick out popular surnames in history and the arts we know that President Charles de Gaulle of France is always known and listed as "de Gaulle", while famous composer Ludvig van Beethoven is only known as Beethoven. However, Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of the famous work Don Quixote, is always known and filed under Cervantes and never de Cervantes.

Because majority of surnames in the Philippines with a particle are of Hispanic origin then we will concentrate on the rules of alphabetizing Spanish surnames. Many people from the English-speaking world consistently treat surnames with a prefix the same as any other surname or treat surnames with spaces as if it were one word. However, according to The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.): “In alphabetizing family names containing particles, the indexer must consider the individual’s personal preference (if known) as well as traditional and national usages.” So it follows that if a person writes his or her name in a certain way then we alphabetize as the person concerned wants it. Otherwise, and as is mostly the case, we must follow the rules governing name alphabetization in the name's country of origin.

In the case of Miguel de Cervantes, if we want to alphabetize and file him in a list of names The Chicago Manual of Style and Spanish naming customs say that he should be filed as "Cervantes, Miguel de" because the Spanish de is not used before the last name when it stands alone. This is also the same rule that applies to names with the prefix dela, de la, delos, and de los.

On the other hand, if the surname begins with Del, the surname is capitalized and used with the last name alone. Thus, when filing the last name, a Maria del Prada is listed as Del Prada, Maria.
 

There is also the question about the conventional naming pattern of Spaniards. While this no longer concerns us today as people don't use the Spanish custom of naming, many old records from the Spanish period are unfortunately written this way so that is the last piece of information I wish to address in this article.

Spanish naming pattern is done this way: First Name (and other personal names) + Father's Family Name + Mother's Family name. Thus, if we were to write PNoy's name in this manner he would be known as Benigno Simeon Aquino Cojuangco III. According to New Hart's Rules: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors, for everyday use the second surname (mother's surname) may be dropped. And when two surnames are use in the usual Spanish naming pattern, alphabetization is normally according to the first element or surname.

For a related article please check EDSA and the use of Surnames .

Spanish Text of Claveria's Renovacion de Apellidos

Below are scanned copies from the book Renovacion de Apellidos showing the original Spanish text of the Claveria decree.

The DONs and DON'Ts of Tracing Principalia Ancestors

Relative to the previous two articles on noble surnames and the Lakan Genealogy, today I will discuss briefly another common mistake that many Filipinos commit when they make their family trees.

For some unknown reason, Filipinos are extremely oversensitive when it comes to the use of titles. A college professor gets slighted when she is referred to only as professor, and not a doctor, if she already has a Ph.D., or perhaps a lawyer would feel insulted if called a "Mr." instead of an "Attorney". I once spoke with a barangay councilor on the phone who greeted me with "good morning this is Honorable First Councilor *FIRST AND LAST NAME*". A short walk around a cemetery, any Filipino cemetery, would give one a sampling of just how important titles are to us that even in death we wish to be memorialized with these titles. For eternity.

These titles today are sources of pride for many Filipinos, and, for the social climbers, these titles are sure signs of social standing. Such titles also adorn the family trees that are found in genealogy books as well as those that are blown up and displayed on the walls at home. Here were see not just Drs. (Doctors) and Attys. (Attorneys) but also Frs. (Fathers), Sis. (Sisters), Engrs. (Engineers), Profs. (Professors), and so much more. And, if we are lucky enough to see family trees that go back to the Spanish period, then we see other titles such as Don, Doña, or even the more ennobling Sr. Don (Señor Don) or Sra. Doña (Señora Doña). 

Many people trace their trees hoping to find at least one "Don" in their relatives as if this would somehow make their history better. While I respect people's reasons for doing genealogy in my experience having a Don in the family tree is nothing but a quaint footnote in our history. Some people go as far as memorializing this title through the name of public markets, schools, streets, cultural centers, and other edifices  In my humble opinion, a DON CRISOSTOMO IBARRA High School does not really ring anything to the listener. It just tells us that someone had enough money to donate the land or materials to build the school. That he was rich and prominent. All shallow and downright useless.

But since we are talking about the title Don, why don't we set the record straight as to who has the right to use the title.

First of all, the title DON is not an acronym for De Origen Noble, as what some people like to believe (maybe to make them more royal, I suppose). In fact, the title Don is the Hispanization of the Latin word dom, which means master or owner and was used as a title of sovereignty in the Roman times. As a title with such lofty roots it was then originally used only by members of royalty, the nobility, and church dignitaries. 

When the Spaniards came to the Philippines the first to use the title were those of high rank in the various expeditions that visited the Philippines. When Legazpi conquered the Philippine islands for his king the former rulers of each barangay or pockets of kingdom throughout the archipelago were granted the privilege of continuing to govern their respective barangays, but this time as agents of the Spanish crown. These nobles became the cabezas de barangay and the gobernadorcillos of each pueblo or town and were known collectively as the principalia.

A scanned copy of exempted individuals, all descendants of
Lakandula. Notice that all children were given the titles of
Don and Dona.

List of exempted cabezas and their spouses, all
bearing the titles Don and Dona.

With the formation of the principalia class also came the benefits. The principales of each town were exempted from forced labor and from paying tribute. It is not clear whether the earlier laws covered ALL members of a principales' family members, but later laws in the colony limited these perks to the wife and eldest son of the principales. This was true among the descendants of Lakandula, Soliman, Matanda, and Mojica. These clans were known as the super-principalia class, which then made them socially higher than the local principalia. These four families had the distinct advantage of having all members enjoy all these perks. However, later Governors-General of the colony revoked this blanket privilege and limited it to the male line and their eldest sons.

Thus, this should be the first lookout for those with principalia antecedents. So while your cabeza or gobernadorcillo ancestor carried the title of Don, only his wife was permitted the title Doña and their eldest son the title of Don, as well. So if your ancestor was a only a second or even younger son or a daughter then he or she should not be listed in your family tree and/or history as having the title. 

List of heirs of former cabezas and mestizos.
Though exempted from tribute they did not
have the title of Don anymore.

It would appear, however, that the title was not granted for life because in several Reservados por Priveligeo documents in the National Archives  the herederos or heirs (the eldest son, mostly) of former cabezas and gobernadorcillos were still listed as exempted from tributes but were listed down without a title. So it would appear that the privileges of the principales did not extend to the second generation.

Most Spaniards and Spanish mestizos in the Philippines were also addressed as Don, although this was not exactly indiscriminately given to just any Spaniard or Spanish mestizo. In fact, Spaniards who were of a lower social standing were never addressed as Don in archival records. Some attained such title when their social status improved (i.e. they became rich and prominent). In the same list of exempted individuals at least three mestizos were identified but none bore the title of Don. The priests in the Philippines were also addressed as Don, and based on church records both the Hispanic and the native priests were addressed as Don.

The Chinese immigrants as well as the mestizo sangleyes also attained the title as their prominence and wealth became too much for the Spanish authorities to ignore. Thus, even before the Americans came, there were many Chinese and Filipino-Chinese men who were addressed as Don.

Later, when the Spaniards left and the Americans took over the title of Don lost all its aristocratic trappings and was simply used by the prominent and the wealthy, regardless of their antecedents. Thus, more and more people appeared in newspapers and documents bearing the title Don and Doña.

Today, of course, the title is an anachronism. Many of the genealogists I know also snort with derision when people get excited at seeing their ancestors written as a Don or Doña in church and other records. For me, I suppose there is no harm in calling your ancestor as a Don or Doña provided they were granted that title. We must always remember that regardless of our ancestors' title (or lack of) we still learn a lot from the life they lived and led.Genealogy, after all, is not just about the titled, but also about the nameless in history.

________________________________________________________
Scanned copies of the archival documents from the Philippine National Archives.

Genealogy Book Reviews 01: My Bibles of Genealogy

Because I loved to read when I was a kid (still do, actually) books also became the primary source of the beginning of my love affair with genealogy. Although my initial contact with genealogy began when I saw a family tree of the Japanese Imperial Family in a collector's item magazine during the wedding of Crown Prince Naruhito to commoner Masako Owada, it was still a book that got me really hooked on the topic. Cliche as it may sound the one book that truly started my fascination with genealogy was Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga of an American Family. I saw my copy of Roots in a secondhand bookstore and from then on it became one of the books I would always read again every few months. In the same secondhand bookstore, though several months later, I bought Stephen Birmingham's America's Secret Aristocracy. Years later I saw the third and final book which would form a triad with the first two I bought. This was the reproduction of the Renovacion de Apellidos decree of Governor-General Narciso Claveria by the Philippine National Archives. 

With these three books, my devotion to genealogy was sealed.

Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Published in the 70s, this heartwarming, totally amazing chronicle of the family of Kunta Kinte, Alex Haley's African ancestor who was sold to slavery is a must read for all genealogy enthusiasts regardless of racial or ethnic origin.

The release of Roots in bookstores all over the world was actually credited as the reason for the increase of interest in genealogy by people from all walks of life. Since the 70s, more and more people have been tracing their family histories.

This book also taught me one important lesson: most families do not have the same good fortune as others who have journals, letters, and other old personal correspondences that would allow the present generation to understand their ancestors more. Towards the end of the book Alex Haley explained that in order for him to write realistically about how his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, really felt about being chained inside a slave ship for several weeks, he himself tried to replicate the experience of his forebear. He rode a freighter from Africa to the United States and every night he would climb down into the ship's deep, dark, and cold cargo hold, stripped to his underwear, lie on his back on a tough plank and forced himself to stay there through ten nights of the crossing. Though this was really nothing compared to the horrible conditions of his ancestors, Alex Haley stated that doing that allowed him at least a glimpse of his ancestor's experiences. This, then, became my guiding philosophy when writing a crucial event in my family history. Majority of my own family history writeups were also "validated" through replicated experiences.

America's Secret Aristocracy is one of those books that deal with the elite clans of the United States. This was written by Stephen Birmingham, who has also written similar books about the various prominent families in the United States. While this is purely a book on the American aristocracy it gave me the idea of trying to connect the prominent families of Philippine politics. Indeed, my articles RP Politics: Still a Family Affair, Argao Politics: Family Affair, and Filipino Beauty Pageants: A Family Affair were all inspired by the amazing connections found in this book.  His other books include The Grandees: America's Sephardic Elite, Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York, Real Lace: America's Irish Rich, and The Rest of Us: The Rise of America's Eastern European Jews.

Finally, the third book that has always guided me in my genealogical journey is the reprint of the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos. In my opinion, no Filipino genealogist, whether professional or amateur, should be without this amazing book. This was the first book to really makes sense of the many unique traits of Filipino surnames. I used to believe that all people bearing the same surname were related, and no write-up online could dissuade me from this belief. But when I saw this book, and read how a single law imposed surname use to the native inhabitants of the Philippines in 1849, my eyes were opened.

The book contains an introductory discussion on surnames by then Archives director Domingo Abella. Then there is a brief discussion on the life and times of Governor-General Narciso Claveria and some of his other achievements during his short stint as Governor-General of the colony. Then the actual decree is presented including the succeeding documents by the successor of Claveria inquiring about the status of implementation of the decree. Scans of the decree and the succeeding documents are included, thus giving more authority to the book. Finally, the complete catalog of surnames makes up for the bulk of the book. No effort to type the surnames was made, however. The list you find in the publication is actually a simple scan of the original list. The names are not perfectly arranged alphabetically and many areas of the catalog have unclear surnames.

More reviews of other books in the days ahead!