Senator Joker? Pinoy names tickle foreigners

Playful Filipino names need getting used to, especially if you’re a foreigner with a more predictable Western nickname like Kate. In a recent article published on the BBC web site, amused British journalist Kate McGeown writes about a favorite topic of first-time visitors to the Philippines -- unusual, invented, or just plain funny Pinoy names, the kind she has been coming across since her first day in Manila when she was served by a waitress named Bumbum. "I did a double-take, then smiled back, deciding it was probably a joke. But if so, it is a joke that practically the whole country seems to be in on," writes McGeown. Like fellow Briton Matthew Sutherland, whose tongue-in-cheek article "A Rhose by Any Other Name" listed common categories of Filipino names, McGeown observes that these bizarre names can only be found here, and are "as quintessentially Filipino as the country's Catholic faith, friendly smiles, former US military jeeps knows as jeepneys, beautiful beaches and love of karaoke." "Even the president is not spared," writes McGeown. President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is casually referred to by his nickname Noynoy. Since his election, the nickname has evolved to PNoy, short for President Noynoy.

McGeown notes that no one seems to see the need to ask why two of his sisters are called Pinky and Ballsy, or question the integrity of Joker Arroyo, "one of the country's most respected senators." Indeed, no one seems to think twice about such nicknames. After all, we have grandmothers we call Baby and grandfathers we call Boy, as if their parents thought they’d be infants all their lives. We have families named after flowers, or according to a single letter. When we repeat syllables, we find it more endearing than annoying. Kids are named after food their mother craved for, or their favorite food. So if you know someone named Hershey, you can count on having a Nestle in the family. For families with several people inheriting the same name, perhaps nicknames are necessary to be able to differentiate. After all, simply adding a number to the name would be so impersonal. Some parents, it seems, can’t be bothered to think up names for their children, and simply name them according to their birth order. Una is followed by Segunda, and so on. Kids are often given religious names, like Maria. But why settle for one when you can have three, as in Jejomar - Jesus, Joseph and Mary - as our vice president Jejomar Binay is called? Other parents see their kids as combinations of themselves, so they name them by combining their own names. For instance, Elovel sounds exotic and foreign, but it's really because her parents are named Edwin and Lani, and well, E loves L. For some Pinoys, it's only logical. We once entrusted our religious guidance to someone called Cardinal Sin, and we've had classmates like Edgar Allan Pe and Chica Go. None of this is surprising to us. McGeown attempts a sociological take and writes that perhaps the strange names came about because the Philippines is a melting pot of different cultures. Spain gave us Catholicism, America taught us to shorten everything. "The president himself is a good example, whose full Christian name is Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino, names which are Spanish, Hebrew and Chinese respectively. His nickname Noynoy is the only part that is truly Filipino," says McGeown.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Could it be that the Pinoy penchant for strange names is good old Filipino creativity at work? In the same way that we took former US military jeeps and came up with a wildly colorful mode of transportation, we came up with names you won't find anywhere else. Some names just evolved. Bok almost never answers to her real name, which is Tanya. "Nung nagkamalay-tao na ako, Bok na ang tawag sa akin eh," she says. "Bokyo yung buo. May phase din na Atoy tawag sa akin, o Bill," she says. Her mother still calls her Tanya, but ever since fifth grade when a classmate overheard her being called Bokyo, her friends called her Bok as well. Ping, whose real name is Rafael Miguel, got his nickname from some high school friends who initially called him Paeng, the standard local nickname for Rafael. "Eventually, Paeng turned into Ping and I kept it. Obviously way cooler than Raffy," says Ping, formerly Paeng and definitely not Raffy. “I'm so not a Raffy." At Starbucks, Ping is often asked, "That's Pink, sir? Pink po ang name nyo?" "I'm 6' tall and 190 lbs. Yes, of course my name is Pink," he jests, but still he keeps his nickname. "Because I knew I wouldn't be able to go through college with Raffy as my nickname. Who would?" Most interesting names have stories. Bamba, whose real name is Jezreel, got her nickname from the popular song "La Bamba," to which she would sing and dance when she was eight months old, even when she wasn't feeling well. "Tinakbo na 'ko sa clinic, tapos biglang pinatugtog ung La Bamba sa radyo ng sasakyan kumakanta at sumayaw pa rin daw ako kahit tumitirik na mata ko," she said. Now 25, Bamba still prefers her nickname. "Mas cool. Hindi mo alam kung surname o nickname eh," she says. Also, it gets her instant entertainment. Whenever people mistakenly call her Bambam, she says as in "La Bamba," and they automatically start singing and dancing. Sutherland devotes a paragraph to "the fabulous concept of the randomly-inserted letter 'h'" - which he thinks is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only typically weird name. As it turns out, the 'h' may just be there for luck, although it is unclear where this belief comes from. Dharlene's name evolved from darling, which was her father's term of endearment for her mother. "Nilagyan ng h kasi maswerte daw pag may h," she explains. Dharlene was eventually shortened to Dhang, which she didn't bother to change. "Kumalat na siya so nakilala na ako ng buong madla na Dhang. I got used to it, so keri na," says Dharlene-turned-Dhang. After living in the Philippines for a while, McGeown is no longer surprised. "When I'm introduced to a Dinky or a Dunce, or read about people called Bing and Bong, it seems almost normal. In fact, if anything, I rather like the fact that Filipinos are self-assured enough to use these names, no matter how odd they sound or how senior the person's public role." But don't count on her changing her name to Kat Kat (Kat2) anytime soon. "While I think it is great that Bumbum can wear her name badge with pride, I'm not quite ready to adopt a Philippine nickname myself just yet," says McGeown. – HS, GMA News