Top 50 Family Names in Cebu City

Cebu City has always had a very rich amalgamation of culture. Food, dances, folklore, and others. Part of this rich mix includes family names. In a previous article regarding the premier families of the Queen City of the South, 60 family names were enumerated to be the most influential. However, today, a century or more later, though many of the same families can still be considered popular, they are no longer as populous. 

Today, on Cebu City's charter day, I have decided to list down the most numerous surnames in Cebu City. Below are the Top 50 Family Names in Cebu City and their corresponding number of people carrying the name.

Top 10 Chinese Family Names in the Philippines

Ever since the Philippine President started declaring the Chinese Lunar New Year as a special non-working holiday (I’m unsure if it was President Arroyo or Aquino who started this. Knowing her penchant for creating holidays I guess it was PGMA), I’ve regarded the holiday with much more enthusiasm and respect. Not only because I get the day off during the Chinese New Year, but also because I share part of the heritage of the Chinese-Filipinos being a TAN descendant from my mother’s side of the family as well being a SINDIONG descendant on my father’s family. Though the holiday has no religious or spiritual significance to me, I would like to offer my own well wishes to the rest of the Filipino-Chinese community on this day and what better way to give to wish them well than to give out the latest list of top 10 Chinese surnames in the Philippines.

As a caveat, I would like to point out this early that these rankings are based on the top 50 surnames compilation of family names in each city and municipality. Thus, the count of the people carrying these particular top 10 surnames are based only on those found in top 50, not overall in the Philippines.

In China today the following surnames are the ten most populous: Lǐ, Wáng, Zhāng, Liú, Chén, Yáng, Zhào, Huáng, Zhōu, and Wú.  These surnames appear in variations in the Philippines as Lee, Dy, and Sy; Wong and Ong; Chong, Teo, and Tiu; Lao; Chan and Tan; Leung; Chiu and Chu; Wong and Ko; Chao; and Wu and Go, respectively. Though they have their counterparts in the Philippines these variants are not similar in ranking though most of them are still part of the top 10 most populous Chinese family names in the country. These are:

1. TAN (陈). The surname Tan appears as the most populous Chinese surname in the Philippines and ranks as the 55^th most populous among all family names in the country. It is derived from the name of an ancient region in China (in the province of Henan). As part of the sentence it is first a verb and means to arrange, exhibit, narrate, tell, to state, to display, or to explain. It can also function as an adjective and means aged/old, stale, and vintage. As proof of its prevalence as a surname it appears as one of the top 50 surnames in 123 cities and municipalities and can be found in all the regions in the Philippines especially in the National Capital Region and Eastern Visayas. There are an estimated 86,513 people carrying the surname Tan in Metro Manila with a high concentration in Santa Cruz, Quezon City, and Tondo. In these three areas alone there are more than 20,000 Tans.

                                                                                                                    

2. LIM (林). The number 2 Chinese surname and number 99 among all surnames in the Philippines. It means “woods” or “forest”. It appears as part of the top 50 in 74 cities and municipalities and there are 58,450 carrying the surname. Like Tan it is also prevalent in Santa Cruz, Quezon City, and Tondo.

3. UY (黄). A variant of the surname Huang, Uy ranks 218^th among all Filipino family names. It means “yellow” though it is also associated with the metal “gold” or the chemical “sulfur”. It appears in 32 towns and cities in the Philippines and is most populous in Cebu City, Tondo, Davao City, Manila, Iloilo City, and Bacolod City, totaling 10,955 people carrying the last name. All in all, among those where it appears as one of the top 50, there are 18,746 people bearing the name Uy.

4. CHUA (蔡). Derived from the last name Cài, Chua appears as the 303^rd most common family name in the Philippines. The surname is derived from the name of a former kingdom in China. It appears as part of the top 50 in 24 cities and municipalities and there are 23,337 people carrying the surname in these 24 towns and cities. It is most populous in Metro Manila and in Iloilo, particularly in the cities and municipalities of Santa Cruz, Tondo, Manila, Sampaloc, Kalookan City, Bacolod City, Ermita, and Iloilo City, where 19,218 Chuas reside.

5. ONG (汪). Derived from the last name Wāng, which means “go”; it appears as part of the top 50 last names in 15 cities and municipalities and there are 11,825 carrying the surname in these 24 towns and cities. It appears most numerous in Santa Cruz, Tondo, Manila, and Iloilo City, still in Metro Manila and Iloilo similar to Chua. In these 4 areas alone 9,710 or 82% of Ongs reside.

6. GO (吴). Derived from the surname Wú, which was a former state in China, it appears as part of the top 50 family names in 19 cities and municipalities in the country and there are 11,620 people carrying the surname in these 19 areas. A bit differently from the previous surnames, Go is more common in Visayan cities particularly in Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro City, and Tacloban City, though it also appears in Tondo and Manila. In these 5 alone there are 9,877 people bearing the last name Go.

7. YAP (葉). Derived from the last name Yè, it appears as one of the top 50 surnames in 16 cities and municipalities and there are 8,460 carrying the surname.  It means “leaf”. Numeorus Yaps can be found in Cebu City, Davao City, Iloilo City, and Bacolod City.

8. YU (余 / 于). The Filipino Yu is the same as the Chinese Yu, though there are two Yu Chinese versions.  The first Yu means "in", "on", "at";and "go to", while the second one means "extra" or "surplus". It appears as part of the top 50 surnames in 15 cities and municipalities and there are 6,610 people in these 15 areas carrying the surname. It appears the most in Cebu City, Tondo, and Tacloban City.

9. ANG (汪). Derived from the surname Wāng whcih means "king". It appears as part of the top 50 in 10 cities and municipalities and there are 4,553 carrying the surname in these 10 cities and municipalities. It is most numerous in Tondo in Metro Manila and In Davao City.

10. LEE (李). A variant of the surname Lǐ, it means "plum". Although it is the most numerous Chinese surname in the world it is only the 10th most populous last name in the Philippines and appears as part of the top 50 in only 11 cities and municipalities. In these 11 places there are only 2,099 people carrying the surname. It is most populous in Baguio City, San Juan in Metro Manila, and in Jolo, Sulu.

Kung Hei Fat Choy!!!!

Love and Family Names in the Philippines

While not really feeling particularly romantic on this day of hearts, I thought it would be a little fun to find out where “love” resides in the Philippines.  Of course, this is a geographic genealogy approach to love, not an emotional or spiritual one. So if you are expecting to read about the heart and soul, I’m afraid you are reading the wrong story on this day.

I recently wrote a brief tribute to the Fallen44 Police Officers using the concept of geographic genealogy. In that article I mapped out where the 44 were from and counted how many people in the Philippines carried the same family name as these heroes. Today would be something similar, albeit a little lighter in topic.

On this day when people share their heart to the ones they love I thought it would be nice to find out where we can find surnames associated with Valentine’s Day in the country. Because my list of current surnames are limited to the top 50 in each municipality or city in the country, the list of surnames here related to Valentine’s Day would be limited only to the available top 50 surnames.

In the Philippines today there are exactly 10 family names that relate to love. These surnames are spread across 26 provinces among 54 towns and cities in the Philippines. 

As can be seen below 8 of the 10 are Spanish while 1 is Cebuano and the last 1 is Tagalog. Seven of the Spanish words are conjugations of the word Amar, which means “to love”. 

1. Amaba. Is an imperfect indicative conjugation of amar.
2. Amado is a participle.
3. Aman is a present indicative conjugation.
4. Amar is a verb which means to love.
5. Amaran is a future indicative conjugation.
6. Amas is another present indicative conjugation.
7. Ame is a preterite indicative conjugation.
8. Amor is a noun which means love.
9. Gugma is a Cebuano noun that means love.
10. Puso is a Tagalog word that means heart.

Though there were other family names that were conjugations of Amar, like Amen, it would be difficult to prove if the surname was chosen (assuming this was adopted during the 1849 Claveria decree) to mean to love or if it has a more religious intent. So I stuck with the 10. Here are some interesting trivia about these 10 names:

The surname AMAR (verb, “to love”) appears the most in the Philippines and may be found in the following areas:

• Tibiao, Antique
• Culasi, Antique
• Looc, Romblon
• Bago City, Negros Occidental
• La Carlota City, Negros Occidental
• Tulunan, North Cotabato
• Roxas, Oriental Mindoro
• Hamtic, Antique
• Pamplona, Camarines Sur
• Barbaza, Antique
• Pulupandan, Negros Occidental
• Candoni, Negros Occidental
• Ferrol, Romblon
• Pontevedra, Negros Occidental
• Valladolid, Negros Occidental
• Arakan, North Cotabato

This is followed by the noun, AMOR (“love”), which appears in 12 towns in the Philippines:

• Alimodian, Iloilo
• San Isidro, Northern Samar
• San Jacinto, Masbate
• Allen, Northern Samar
• Compostela, Cebu
• Biri, Northern Samar
• Bayugan, Agusan Del Sur
• Las Nieves, Agusan Del Norte
• Bayog, Zamboanga Del Sur
• San Roque, Northern Samar
• Tampakan, South Cotabato
• Rosario, Northern Samar

It appears that in terms of number of times they are found within the top 50 surnames, “to love” and “love” have the most count. The rest of the surnames: Amado, appears in 9 towns; Aman, appears in 7 towns; Amaba, appears in 2 towns; Amas, appears in 2 towns; Gugma, appears in 2 towns; Puso, appears in 2 towns; Amaran, appears in 1 towns; Ame, appears in 1 towns.

Central Visayas is the region with the most number of “love” surnames. Most regions have 2 or 3 “love” surnames but Central Visayas has 4; these are AMOR, Amado, Amaba, and Amas.

Other interesting trivia are:

Amar and Amor, the surnames that appear the most in the Philippines, also have the highest number of people carrying them as surnames; 3614 for Amar and 1838 for Amor.

Amaran and Ame appear only once as part of the top 50; Lakewood, Zamboanga del Sur for Amaran and Mina, Iloilo for Ame. Only 62 people carry both surnames.

Gugma, which is Cebuano for “love”, appears as one of the top 50 surnames in non-Cebuano towns of Culion and Linapacan, both in Palawan.

Puso, Tagalog for “heart”, appears only in 2 non-Tagalog places, Kolambugan, Lanao Del Norte and Matag-ob, Leyte.

These are the little and interesting gems of information I can find so far in the list of top 50 surnames in each municipality in the country. Perhaps more insights can be gained if a more comprehensive study can be made in the future.

Happy Hearts' Day! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The Fallen 44: A Genealogical Tribute

I know it’s been several days since that tragic event in Mamasapano. As always, it is difficult for me to automatically write something using genealogy as it usually takes days of research to do a family history. Of course, I would not do a genealogy of each of the Fallen 44. As much as I would like to there is not enough time to do that now. But still, I want to give my tribute to these heroic police officers in a way that I, as a family historian, can relate to.

I recently received the final piece of research material for my overdue book on genealogy from very considerate and thoughtful people from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). They sent me a consolidated list of the most populous and popular last names for each municipality in the country, something I need for a chapter in my book. So before I use this list to complete my book, I will use this for this tribute.

When I mapped out the home provinces of the 44 fallen policemen (see diagram above) I noticed immediately at how national the distribution of their hometowns were. This was clearly something that people from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao could relate to as the provinces of these 44 heroes were spread out among the 3 major island groups. Twenty-five of them came from Luzon, 12 from the Visayas, and 7 from Mindanao. This is one of the reasons why the reaction of the Filipino people has been so strong and so real; everyone from these provinces, and by extension in their regions, could claim these heroes as their own and would fight for the truth to come out so as to give justice to these fallen heroes.

With this in mind, I looked at the PSA list further and decided to find the prevalence of the surnames of the Fallen 44. Below is a matrix showing how many times a surname appears as one of the top 50 in each municipality and the number of people carrying the surname today. Of course, we know that because of Governor-General Narciso Claveria's 1849 Surname Decree these people with similar surnames to our Fallen 44 policemen are not all related. The matrix is simply a short practice of looking at the spread of certain surnames across the Philippines.

FAMILY NAME	HOMETOWN	# OF TOWNS W/ SURNAME	# OF PEOPLE W/ SURNAME
Acain	Gutalac, Zamb. del Norte	Appears very populous in 7 towns	1217 people carrying the surname
Acob	Sampaloc, Manila	Appears very populous in 17 towns	2072 people carrying the surname
Agabon	Iligan City	Appears very populous in 3 towns	439 people carrying the surname
Aliaga	Banaue, Ifugao	Appears very populous in 6 towns	763 people carrying the surname
Anniban	Tabuk City, Kalinga	Appears very populous in 1 town	69 people carrying the surname
Asjali	Zamboangaanga City	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Balaca	Oras, Eastern Samar	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Baluga	Piat, Cagayan	Appears very populous in 5 towns	383 people carrying the surname
Bedua	Dulag, Leyte	Appears very populous in 2 towns	193 people carrying the surname
Bilog	Tabuk City, Kalinga	Appears very populous in 3 towns	781 people carrying the surname
Cabanlet	Baroy, Lanao del Norte	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Candano	Dumanjug, Cebu	Appears very populous in 2 towns	274 people carrying the surname
Capinding	San Mateo, Isabela	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Carap	La Trinidad, Benguet	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Cayang-o	Sadanga, Mt. Province	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Cempron	Paranaque	Appears very populous in 1 town	239 people carrying the surname
Clemencio	Carigara, Leyte	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Cordero	Isulan, Sultan Kudarat	Appears very populous in 52 towns	12644 people carrying the surname
Danao	Baguio City	Appears very populous in 17 towns	5541 people carrying the surname
Danao	Tinoc, Ifugao	Appears very populous in 17 towns	5541 people carrying the surname
Dulnuan	Baguio City	Appears very populous in 22 towns	8626 people carrying the surname
Duque	Aurora, Isabela	Appears very populous in 14 towns	2651 people carrying the surname
Erana	Dumalinao, Z. del Sur	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Esmulla	Zamboanga Sibugay	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Gamutan	Basilan	Appears very populous in 1 town	177 people carrying the surname
Golocan	Baguio City	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Inocencio	Panabo City	Appears very populous in 5 towns	1178 people carrying the surname
Kayob	La Trinidad, Benguet	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Kiangan	Mankayan, Benguet	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Kibete	S. J. del Monte, Bulacan	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Kodiamat	Bontoc, Mt. Province	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Mejia	San Nicolas, Pangasinan	Appears very populous in 23 towns	11574 people carrying the surname
Nacino	San Luis, Aurora	Appears very populous in 2 towns	283 people carrying the surname
Nacionales	Marcos, Ilocos Norte	Appears very populous in 3 towns	577 people carrying the surname
Pabalinas	Gen. Santos City	Appears very populous in 1 town	390 people carrying the surname
Ramacula	Rosario, N. Samar	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Sagonoy	Silvino Lobos, N. Samar	Appears very populous in 2 towns	291 people carrying the surname
Senin	San Fabian, Pangasinan	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Sumbila	Sulat, Eastern Samar	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Tabdi	La Trinidad, Benguet	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Tayrus	Zamboanga City	Uncommon last name	Very few people using the surname
Tria	Virac, Catanduanes	Appears very populous in 6 towns	1297 people carrying the surname
Viernes	Tuguegarao City	Appears very populous in 56 towns	9183 people carrying the surname
Villanueva	Zamboanga City	Appears very populous in 573 towns	249243 people carrying the surname

Source:

Top 50 Family Names in the Philippines (data from the Philippine Statistics Authority), 2014.