Chinese Filipino - Name Format

Name Format

Most Chinese Filipinos, particularly the younger generation, now follow the typical Western naming convention (given name, then family name), albeit with English first names coupled with Chinese surnames.

Historical trends in naming

Many Chinese Filipinos who were present during the Spanish naming edict of 1849 eventually adopted Spanish name formats, along with a Spanish given name (e.g., Higino Que y Sia). For some, they adopted their entire Chinese name as a surname for the entire clan (e.g., Alberto Cojuangco from 許寰哥, Khó-hoân-ko). Chinese Mestizos, as well as some Chinese who chose to completely assimilate into the Filipino or Spanish culture adopted Spanish surnames.

Newer Chinese migrants who came during the American Colonial Period use a combination of an adopted Spanish (or rarely, English) name together with their Chinese name (e.g., Carlos Palanca Tan Quin Lay or Vicente Lim Bon Liong). This trend was to continue up to the late 1970s.

As both exposure to North American media as well as the number of Chinese Filipinos educated in English increased, the use of English names among Chinese Filipinos, both common and unusual, started to increase as well. Popular names among the second generation Chinese community included English names ending in "-son" or other Chinese-sounding suffixes, such as Anderson, Emerson, Patrickson, Washington, among such others. For parents who are already third and fourth generation Chinese Filipinos, English names reflecting American popular trends are given, such as Ethan, Austin, Aidan.

It is thus not unusual to find a young Chinese Filipino named Chase Tan whose father's name is Emerson Tan and whose grandfather's name was Elpidio Tan Keng Kui, reflecting the depth of immersion into the English language as well as into the Philippine society as a whole.

Surnames

Chinese Filipinos whose ancestors came to the Philippines from 1898 onward usually have single syllable Chinese surnames, the most common of which are Tan (陳), Ong (王), Lim (林), Go/Ngo (吳), Ng/Uy/Wong (黃), Gao/Kao (高), Chua/Cua (蔡), Sy/See/Si (施), Co (許), Lee/Dy (李), and Ching/Chong (莊). Many also took on Spanish or Filipino surnames upon naturalization. Today, it can be difficult to identify who are Chinese Filipinos based on surnames alone.

A phenomenon common among Chinese migrants in Southeast Asia dating from 1900s would be purchasing of surnames, which was particularly common during the American Colonial Period, when the Chinese Exclusion Act was applied to the Philippines. Such law led new Chinese migrants to 'purchase' the surnames of Filipinos and thus pass off as long time Filipino residents of Chinese descent, or as ethnic Filipinos. Sometimes, Chinese migrants would circumvent the Act through adoption - wherein a Chinese with Philippine nationality adopts a relative or a stranger as his own children, thereby giving the adoptee automatic Filipino citizenship - and a new surname.

On the other hand, most Chinese Filipinos whose ancestors came to the Philippines prior to 1898 use a Hispanicized surname (see below).

Hispanicized Surnames

Chinese Filipinos, as well as Chinese mestizos who trace their roots back to Chinese immigrants to the Philippines during the Spanish Colonial Period, usually have multiple syllable Chinese surnames such as Chuacuco, Chuatoco, Cojuangco, Colico, Dioquino, Dyloco, Dytoc, Dy-Cok, Dytioco, Gueco, Gokongwei, Kimpo/Quimpo, Limcuando, Ongpin, Pempengco, Quebengco, Sycip, Tambengco, Tambunting, Tanbonliong, Tantoco, Tiongson, Tungol, Yuchengco, Tanciangco, Yuipco, and Yupangco, among such others. These were originally full Chinese names which were transliterated into Spanish and adopted as surnames.

There are also multiple syllable Chinese surnames that are Spanish transliterations of Hokkien words. Surnames like Tuazon (Eldest Grandson), Dizon (Second Grandson), Samson (Third Grandson), Singson (Fourth Grandson), Gozon (Fifth Grandson), Lacson (Sixth Grandson) are examples of Hokkien words with Spanish transliterations used as surnames for some Chinese Filipinos who trace their ancestry from Chinese immigrants to the Philippines during the Spanish Colonial Period also.

Interestingly, some Filipinos without Chinese ancestry may also have Chinese surnames, owing from the forced adoption of surnames from a book called Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos based on an 1849 edict made by then Spanish governor-general Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa.