Philippines, Filipino, Pilipino – What’s In a Name?

It’s no surprise that foreigners have difficulty with the spelling and usage of terms like Philippines, Filipino, and Pilipino.  If it’s Philippines, why isn’t a person from there a Philipino?  And why isn’t it Phillipines instead of Philippines?  If Filipino is correct, why isn’t the country called the Filipines?  If Pilipino is the correct term for a Filipino, why isn’t the country called the Pilipines?

Okay, here were go...

Not long after the islands became a Spanish possession, it was decided to name them after a Spanish monarch.  That monarch was King Felipe II.  The archipelago thus became known as Las Islas Felipinas (the Islands of Felipe).  The accepted Anglicized (English) version of Felipe was Philip, so most English speakers treated “Las Islas Felipinas” as merely “the Philippines”.  At the end of the Spanish-American War, the Treat of Paris stipulated that, “Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands.” Note that the treaty did not say “the islands known as Las Islas Felipinas”, which is rather curious.  This seems to be the first “official” use of the Anglicized version of Felipinas.  At any rate, because the U.S. was the colonial master of the archipelago going into the 20^th century, “Philippines” was destined to become the new standard. 

Of note, these days, the name Phillip (with two L’s) is more common than Philip (with one L), which is why so many people misspell Philippines as Phillipines.   

The Spanish influence remains however.  Because the Spanish called the islands Las Islas Felipinas, the people of the islands became known as Filipinas or Filipinos.  Those terms are still used today, though it’s very common for foreigners to misspell Filipino as Philippino, or worse yet, Phillipino. 

Thus, “Philippines” is derived from the Anglicized version of Felipe, while “Filipino” is derived from the Spanish version of the same name. 

But what about Pilipino and Pilipinas? Isn’t the official name of the Philippines, “Republika ng Pilipinas?”  Yep.  “Republika ng” means “Republic of”, so now you’re probably thinking, why isn’t the official name, “Republika ng Philippines” or “Republika ng Felipinas”, right?  Pilipinas isn’t Spanish or English!  What’s going on?!

Well, it’s like this.  Back before the Spanish landed in the Philippines, the folks there already had their own languages and alphabets.  One of the most widely spoken languages was “Baybayin,” which, while being a very fine language, happened to be missing the letter (and thus the sound for) “F”.  Just imagine, then, how thrilled the natives were to learn that their ancient homeland had been renamed after a king, Felipe, whose name began with a sound they didn’t even have a letter for, and a letter they didn’t have a sound for.  Eventually, convention dictated that the letter “P” be substituted for “F” on a case-by-case basis. 

Also, Baybayin only had three vowels, and there was a lot of gray area between I and E as well as O and U.  Consequently, “I” and “E” were often interchanged freely, as were “O” and “U”.

Knowing all this, it’s not hard to see how Felipinas (Spanish) could be translated as Pilipinas (Baybayin).  Filipino naturally becomes Pilipino and Filipina becomes Pilipina.

Of course, Filipinos today DO use the letter “F”, but the fact that there’s no apparent rule for the use of “F” or “P” often frustrates non-Filipinos.  It’s not that Filipinos need to use P’s in place of F’s; they just do sometimes.  If you think this is silly, as yourself why Americans still use diphthongs like “PH” and “GH” in words like phone and tough when they could just us the letter “F”.  Old habits die hard, eh?

Speaking of diphthongs, Filipinos have never really cared for them.  For example, Filipinos usually pronounce “TH”, as in “the”, as “DU”.  Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that most Filipinos prefer Pilipinas to Philippines.  Pilipinas is Felipinas without the “F” sound or the “PH” diphthong, which makes the term both easier to spell and more in keeping with the ancient Filipino language of Baybayin. 

In other words, the names of the islands and their inhabitants have at least three linguistic influences: Spanish, English, and Baybayin. Each of these languages has left a lasting mark on the way the islands and their people are identified throughout the world.