The plaque inMálaga,Spain, commemoratingLópez de Villalobos for naming the Philippines. Some sources credit his captainBernardo de la Torre for the name instead.One of the earliest maps depicting the Philippines. A 1561 map ofSoutheast Asia by the Italian cartographerGiacomo Gastaldi, using the name Philippine Island (Latin:Philippina) forLeyte but not the entire archipelago
The 1987 Constitution provides that Filipino and English be official languages of the Philippines. It does not contain a provision specifically designating an official name for the country; however, "Republic of the Philippines" is used consistently throughout its provisions (inEnglish). Article XIV, section 8 of the Constitution also mandates that the constitution be also promulgated in Filipino but no such official Filipino version exists."Republika ng Pilipinas" is thede facto name of the country used in Filipino. When standing alone in English, the country's name is always preceded by the articlethe.[7][8][9] However, the definite articleang does not precede the name in Filipino contexts.
The country has throughout its history been known asFilipinas. The earliest known use ofPilipinas in Tagalog was by theKatipunan in their deciphered 1892 foundational document.[10] In the 1930s, the scholar Lope K. Santos introduced theabakada alphabet for writing Tagalog which no longer used the letterF as this sound was absent and was usually pronounced by speakers of several Philippine languages as "P". The abakada alphabet also subsequently spread to other Philippine languages (which had been using spelling systems based on the Spanishabecedario). Thus, the formPilipinas propagated and came into general use.[11] TheCommission on the Filipino Language andNational Artist,Virgilio S. Almario urged the usage ofFilipinas as the country's official name to reflect its origin and history,[12] and to be inclusive of all languages in the country of which phonologies contain/f/, represented by thegrapheme F in thepresent-day Philippine alphabet.[13] This policy was later undone in 2021 by the new commissioner, Arthur Casanova, for being unconstitutional. The commission now recommends the use ofPilipinas overFilipinas when communicating in Filipino.[14]
At international meetings, only the English name usually appears to identify the Philippines (e.g., when there are meetings in theUnited Nations or theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations) in this setting. This is also the tradition even if the meeting is held within the Philippines. The country's name in other languages is more often than not based on eitherFilipinas orPhilippines, both ultimately rooted in theLatinPhilippinae.
In addition to thePhilippines, the archipelago of a country has historically had numerous other names:
Panyupayana. Scholars and traders from the Indian subcontinent historically referred to the Philippines as Panyupayana, a term which emanated from the geopolitical orientation of the Indians, that started with the cosmological orientation. This is manifested by the Puranas and other Indian literature, such asRamayana andMahabharata,[15][16] which also has versions in the Philippines such asMaharadia Lawana.[17][18]
Ma-i. According to theZhao Rugua's (趙汝适) bookZhu Fan Zhi (诸蕃志/諸蕃誌) written around the 13th century during theSong dynasty, there was a group of islands found in southernSouth China Sea calledMa-i (麻逸,HokkienPOJ: Mâ-i̍t,MandarinPinyin: Máyì). The islands groups were later invaded and renamed and identified by theSpanish to be the island ofMindoro.[5] This was further proved byFerdinand Blumentritt in his 1882 book,Versuch einer Ethnographie der Philippinen (An Attempt to the Study of Ethnography of the Philippines) that Ma-i was the Chinese local name of present-day Mindoro.[19] On the other hand, historians claimed that Ma-i was not an island, but all the south of South Sea islands groups andManila itself,[20] which was known to be an overseas Chinese settlement which was in constant contact with the Chinese mainland as early as the 9th century AD.[21]
Liusung (呂宋,HokkienPOJ:Lū-sòng,MandarinPinyin:Lǚsòng) was the name ascribed by the Chinese to the present-day island ofLuzon. It originated from theTagalog wordlusong, a wooden mortar that is used to pound rice. When the Spanish produced maps of the Philippines during the early 17th century, they called the islandLuçonia which was later respelled asLuzonia, then Luzon.[24]
Las islas de Poniente (Islands to the West). Another name from Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 when he learned that theLas islas de San Lázaro also includedCebu andLeyte islands.[25] However, various sources claimed that Magellan was not the one who renamed the area, but his chroniclers instead. The name came from the fact that the islands were reached fromSpain en route approaching the left part of the globe.[5] Conversely, the Portuguese called the archipelagoIlhas do oriente (Islands to the East) because they approached the islands from the east ofPortugal in the late 1540s.[26]
The Portuguese referred the whole island ofLuzon asilhas Luções, orLuzones Islands.[26]
Mindanao was formerly calledilhas de Liquíos Celebes because of the existence ofCelebes Sea south of Mindanao.[26]
Caesarea Caroli orKaroli was the name given by Villalobos or De la Torre to the island ofMindanao when they reached the sea near it in 1543. This was named afterCharles V of theHoly Roman Empire (and I ofSpain).[27][28][29]
KingPhilip II of Spain, through a Royal Decree, bestowed the nameNuevo Reino de Castilla (New Kingdom of Castilla) to the island of Luzon during the expedition ofMiguel López de Legazpi.
Pearl of the Orient/Pearl of the Orient Seas (Spanish:Perla de oriente/Perla del mar de oriente) is thesobriquet of the Philippines. The term originated from the idea of SpanishJesuitmissionary Fr. Juan J. Delgado in 1751.[31] In his last poemMi último adiós,Dr. José Rizal referred the country with this name.[32] In the 1960 revision ofLupang Hinirang, the Philippinenational anthem, theTagalog version of this phrase was included as the translation from the original Spanish.[33]
Adios, Patria adorada, region del sol querida, Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestro perdido Eden! A darte voy alegre la triste mustia vida, Y fuera más brillante más fresca, más florida, Tambien por tí la diera, la diera por tu bien.
Farewell, my adored Land, region of the sun caressed, Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost, With gladness I give you my Life, sad and repressed; And were it more brilliant, more fresh and at its best, I would still give it to you for your welfare at most.
Maniolas. According to Fr. Francisco Colin in 1663, aJesuit cleric and an early historian of the Philippines,Maniolas was the name used byClaudius Ptolemy to refer to the group of islands south of China (i.e.Luzon).[6][36] Colin quoted Ptolemy's writings speaking about the Maniolas islands, which is probably Manila. This theory was further supported byJosé Rizal andPedro A. Paterno. Rizal also said that the country was recorded to Ptolemy's maps when a sailor namedHippalus told him the existence of "beautiful islands" in southeastern Far East.[26][37] However,Trinidad Pardo de Tavera rejected this notion on his 1910 book,Notas para una cartografia de Filipinas (Notes for the Philippine Cartography).[38]
Baroussai. Along with Maniolas is theBaroussai which was also quoted from Ptolemy. Barrousai is believed to be theVisayas withMindanao, thus, composing majority of the now Philippine archipelago.[39][40] Some scholars however have identified Baroussai withBarus in Sumatra.[41][42]
Ophir (Hebrew: אוֹפִיר) is a region of islands mentioned in theBible, most famous for its wealth. Accounts mention thatKing Solomon received the riches of the region every three years. At the emergence of thehydrography of Spanish colonies in Asia in the early 17th century,Dominican Gregorio García wrote thatOphir was indeed located in theMoluccas and thePhilippines.[43] In 1609, Juan de Pineda wrote a diverse collection of literature relating Biblical accounts of Solomon, Ophir and the islands.[43] FormerPrime MinisterPedro A. Paterno said in one of his works onconjecturalanthropology that Ophir is the Philippines because the scented wood Solomon received from Ophir also exists in the Islands.[44] This notion was however, later dismissed by modern historians as merely alluding and comparing the Philippines' position to the Spanish economy with that of Ophir to Solomon's kingdom—the sudden discovery and colonisation of the Islands bringing wealth and prosperity to the realm.[45]
Tawalisi, was an ancient kingdom in Southeast Asia reached by explorerIbn Battuta. He reached the kingdom when he leftSumatra and headed towardsChina. According to the historical accounts of the explorer, he metUrduja, a legendary warrior princess fromPangasinan. However, according toWilliam Henry Scott, Tawilisi and its warrior-princess Urduja are "fabulous, fairy-tale, fiction".[46]
During theThird Philippine Republic is when the shortened namePhilippines began to appear a name that was officially adopted.[when?][47]
Since the official naming of the country as "the Philippine Islands" under American colonial rule and even earlier as "Filipinas", etc. under Spanish colonial rule, the primary reason for the country's name-change has always been "to break away fromcolonialism".[48] A holistically government-backed name has yet to be determined,[49] although a pan-Malay word reflecting the nation's island identity has been proposed as more appropriate, or one related to the archipelago's pre-Hispanic excellence in sailing and boat-building.[50]
Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation).Andrés Bonifacio's suggested name for theFilipino nation, intended to be governed by the 1896–1897Republika ng Katagalugan (Tagalog Republic), although unrecognized by non-Tagalog Filipinos. The name drew flak because of connotations of regionalism. A historian claimed that Bonifacio's usage of "Katagalugan" was not meant to demean other ethnic groups as the word itself meant "people of the river", from the word "taga-ilog", which supposed to represent theocean-faring ancestors of all Philippine ethnic groups.[51] This was later used byMacario Sakay for his 1902–1906 government that was suppressed by the Americans.[52][53]
Kapatiran ("Brotherhood"), or its semi-equivalentKatipunan ("Assembly"/"Gathering").[54]
Luzviminda. Aportmanteau of the first syllables of the country's three major island groups:Luzon;Visayas; andMindanao. The term has sometimes been interchanged withLuzvimindas, due to the territorial claim of the country on easternSabah inBorneo.
Mahárlika (Sanskrit:mahardhikka (महर्द्धिक), "freeman"[55]). InPre-Hispanic Philippines, themahárlika was the commonTagalog term for freedmen, not for the royalty.[55] The maharlika were the largest sector of society, and included warriors, artisans, artists, and others.[56] Unlike the rulers, maharlika did not participate in politics.[57] In 1978, then-president anddictatorFerdinand Marcos supported aHouse Bill mandating the country's renaming toMahárlika under military rule.[58] Marcos claimed thatMahárlika was the name of the guerilla force he allegedly led during World War II. This claim would later be disproven, as testified by an Army investigation which "found no foundation" for the late dictator's claims.[59] Eddie Ilarde, who filed the bill, wrongfully[60] stated thatMaharlika connoted royalty and wrongfully translated the term as "nobly created".[60] In the bookVocabulario de la lengua tagala, the term translates into "alipin na itinuring na malaya" or "aslave that was treated as free".[61] Historians noted that in some accounts, the term means "big phallus" or "large male genitalia".[62][60] The bill did not pass since the term was seen by numerous ethnic groups as "imperial in nature".[54] The proposal was revived bypopulist presidentRodrigo Duterte in February 2019,[63] but the name was dropped a month later.[64] The name change is still supported by the government, although a new name has yet to be determined.[64]
Malaysia. Filipino politicians also suggested adopting the name for the country. A bill in the Senate was presented in 1962 to change the name of the Philippines to Malaysia, but leaders of the nationalist movement of themodern state would adopt the name while the bill was in Congress.[65]
República Rizalina ("Rizaline Republic"). While exiled inJapan, former revolutionary generalArtemio Ricarte proposed the name and had already drafted a constitution for this attempt at a revolutionary government. The term has been pushed by many pro-Rizal Filipinos, however, the term itself is criticized by many as Rizal was not in favor of Philippine independence during the Philippine revolution against Spain as he believed that the Philippines was "not yet ready" to be separated from "mother Spain".[67] However, historians agree through surfaced historical documents that Rizal "believed in the supreme right of revolution" but "did not think it timely in 1896, and considered the people and the country unprepared for it."[68]
^Santarita, Joefe B. (2018). "Panyupayana: The Emergence of Hindu Polities in the Pre-Islamic Philippines".Cultural and Civilisational Links between India and Southeast Asia. pp. 93–105.doi:10.1007/978-981-10-7317-5_6.ISBN978-981-10-7316-8.
^Joefe B. Santarita. “Panyupayana: ThePhilippines in Ancient India’s Geopolitical Orientation”. SEACOM Studies 2 (April 2015): 2
^Francisco, Juan R."Maharadia Lawana"(PDF).Juan R. Francisco – Maharadia Lawana. RetrievedMay 29, 2024.
^FRANCISCO, JUAN R. (1989). "The Indigenization of the Rama Story in the Philippines".Philippine Studies.37 (1):101–111.JSTOR42633135.
Guerrero, Milagros; Encarnacion, Emmanuel; Villegas, Ramon (1996),"Andres Bonifacio and the 1896 Revolution",Sulyap Kultura,1 (2), National Commission for Culture and the Arts, archived fromthe original on April 2, 2015, retrievedAugust 9, 2009
Guerrero, Milagros; Schumacher, John (1998),Reform and Revolution, Kasaysayan: The History of the Filipino People, vol. 5, Asia Publishing Company Limited,ISBN978-962-258-228-6
