Filipino Surnames Relating to Faith, Biblical and Religious Characters

 

                     

Some Filipino families have surnames taken from words specially from Spanish that have religious or spiritual connotation especially in relation to Jesus Christ and His mother, the Virgin Mary. There are also other surnames that are taken from Biblical characters and those taken from the name of saints that are not in the Bible. Although these names are used mostly as given names, there are Filipino families who used them as surnames. Below is a list:

Angeles- angels, Apostol- apostle, Asuncion- the ascension of Jesus to heaven, Banal- a Tagalog word for holy, Bautista- baptized, Concepcion- the Immaculate Conception, Contemplacion- contemplation is the act of thinking on spiritual things, Consolacion- refers to the Lady of Consolation, Cruz/de la Cruz- cross, Custodio- guardian angel, Divinagracia-Divine grace, Encarnacion- the incarnation of God’s spirit in human body, Espirito- spirit, Evangelista- evangelist, Iglesia- church, Infante- the infant Jesus, Martir-martyr, Martirez- plural of martyr, Mesias- messiah, Monasterio- monastery, Monge- monk, Natividad- nativity which refers to the birth of Jesus Christ, Nazareno- Nazarene, Obispo- bishop, Oracion- prayer, Papa- pope, Paraiso- paradise, Pascua- easter, Pastor- shepherd, in English, a church leader, Purisima- the Virgin, Querubin- cherubim, a kind of angel, Resurreccion- Resurrection, Rosario/del Rosario- rosary, Salvacion- salvation, Salvador- savior or redeemer which is Jesus Christ. Santos/de los Santos- saints, Trinidad- trinity (the God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), Veneracion- veneration

Biblical characters from Old and New Testaments are also adopted by Filipino families as surnames. The names come mostly from the account of Jesus life and ministry. They are always used as given names, but they are used too as surnames. Most are in Spanish. Below is a list with their English equivalent. If there is no name translation, it means that the spelling in Spanish and English is the same.

Adan- Adam, Andres- Andrew, Alejandro- historically, Alexander the Great. He is also mentioned in the Catholic Bible in the Book of Maccabees, Baltazar- Balthazar, Bartolome- Bartholomew, Alejo- short for Alexander, Dario- Darius, David, de Jesus- of Jesus, Diego- variant of Santiago, Eleazar, Esteban- Stephen, Emmanuel- God with us, Felipe- Philip, Gabriel, Gaspar- Caspar, Isaac, Ismael- Ishmael, Israel, Jacob, Jaime- James, Juan- John, Judith, Lazaro- Lazarus, Levi, Lucas- Luke, Manuel- short for Emmanuel, Marcos- Mark, Mateo- Matthew, Melchor- Melchior, Miguel- Michael, Pablo- Paul, Pedro- Peter, Rafael- Raphael, Samson, San Diego- Saint James, San Jose- Saint Joseph, San Juan- Saint John, San Miguel- Saint Michael, Santa Ana- Saint Anne, the mother of Saint Mary, Santa Maria- Saint Mary, Santiago- variant of Jaime, Zacarias- Zacharias, Simeon, Simon, Solomon, Tadeo- Thaddeus, Tobias, Tomas- Thomas,

Below is list of other religious figures not in the Bible. They are mostly popes and patron saints in different places in the world.

Adriano- Adrian, Agustin- Augustine, Albano- Albans, Alberto- Albert, Antonio- Anthony, Antonino- Antoninus, Basilio- Basil, Benedicto- Benedict, Bernardo- Bernard, Bonifacio- Boniface, Casimiro- Casimir, Clemente-Clement, Cristobal- Christopher, Eugenio- Eugene, Eusebio- Eusibius, Felix, Francisco- Francis, Gregorio- Gregory, Guillermo- William, Ignacio- Ignatius, Marcelino- Marcellinius, Martin, Mauricio- Maurice, Nicolas- Nicholas, Pascual- Paschal, Quirino- Quirinius, Roque- Roche, Sebastian, Silvestre- Sylvester, Sixto- Sixtus, Teodoro- Theodore, Vicente- Vincent