List of provincial name etymologies of the Philippines explained

The provinces of the Philippines are mainly named after geographic features like rivers and islands, after abundant flora and fauna, after ethnic groups or individuals, or bear a name of older local origin.

Directions in Spanish

Some provinces are prefixed/suffixed with a Spanish word denoting one of the four cardinal directions. These are:

Provincial names

Abra

Agusan (del Norte and del Sur)

Aklan

Albay

Antique

Apayao

Aurora

Basilan

Bataan

Batanes

Batangas

Benguet

Biliran

Bohol

Bukidnon

Bulacan

Cagayan

Camarines (Norte and Sur)

Camiguin

Capiz

Catanduanes

Cavite

Cebu

Cotabato (North and South)

Davao (de Oro, del Norte, del Sur, Occidental, and Oriental)

Dinagat Islands

Guimaras

Ifugao

Ilocos (Norte and Sur)

Iloilo

Isabela

Kalinga

La Union

Laguna

Lanao (del Norte and del Sur)

Leyte (and Southern Leyte)

Maguindanao (del Norte and del Sur)

Marinduque

Masbate

Mindoro (Occidental and Oriental)

Misamis (Occidental and Oriental)

Mountain Province

Negros (Occidental and Oriental)

Nueva Ecija

Nueva Vizcaya

Palawan

Pampanga

Pangasinan

Quezon

Quirino

Rizal

Romblon

Samar (Eastern, Northern and Western)

Sarangani

(Zamboanga) Sibugay

Siquijor

Sorsogon

Sultan Kudarat

Sulu

Surigao (del Norte and del Sur)

Tarlac

Tawi-Tawi

Zambales

Zamboanga (del Norte, del Sur and Sibugay)

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Findlay, Alexander George . A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Archipelago, China, and Japan, from the Straits of Malacca and Sunda, and the Passages East of Java: To Canton, Shanghai, the Yellow Sea, and Japan, with Descriptions of the Winds, Monsoons, and Currents, and General Instructions for the Various Channels, Harbours, Etc. . 1878 . Richard Holmes Laurie . 2nd . London . 604 . Archive.org.
  2. Web site: Cullinane . Michael . Ilocos Range . https://web.archive.org/web/20150410032043/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/283173/Ilocos-range . April 10, 2015 . April 4, 2015 . Encyclopædia Britannica . live .
  3. Book: National Historical Institute . History from the People, Volume 16: Abra, Babuyan Island, Bataan, Batanes, Benguet, Bulacan, Cagayan, Ifugao, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Kalinga Apayao, La Union, Mt. Province, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Quirino, Tarlac, Zambales . National Historical Society . 1999 . . 978-9715381383 . September 3, 2018.
  4. Web site: Agusan del Norte . https://web.archive.org/web/20021126111341/http://www.geocities.com/lppsec/pp/agusannorte.htm . 2002-11-26 . geocities.com.
  5. Book: de la Cruz, Roman A. . Town of a Thousand . 1993 . Macar Publishing House.
  6. Book: The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898 – Volume 5 (1582–1583) . 1903 . The A. H. Clark Company . Blair . Emma Helen . Cleveland . Robertson . James Alexander.
  7. Book: Center for West Visayan Studies . Proceedings of the 8th Conference on West Visayan History and Culture: Theme, Movements, Migrations, Women, Arts, Crafts & Livelihood Activities : Circa 1860s-1920s . 1998 . University of the Philippines in the Visayas . 127.
  8. Web site: The Bicolano Heritage.
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  10. Book: Vanoverbergh, Morice . The Isneg . Catholic Anthropological Conference . 1932.
  11. Book: Infante, Teresita R. . The Woman in Early Philippines and Among the Cultural Minorities . Unitas Publications, University of Santo Tomás . 1969.
  12. Web site: Aurora – Meaning from Word of the Day. https://web.archive.org/web/20090517065554/http://www.yourdictionary.com/wotd/aurora. May 17, 2009.
  13. Book: Sherfan, Andrew Dib . The Yakans of Basilan Island: Another Unknown and Exotic Tribe of the Philippines . Fotomatic . 1976.
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  15. Web site: How Basilan Got Its Name . https://web.archive.org/web/20090828032038/http://www.basilan.gov.ph/basilanname.html . August 28, 2009 . Official Website of the Provincial Government of Basilan.
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  18. Web site: 2008-12-06 . A Glimpse of Batangas' History and Beauty . 2022-01-21 . WOWBatangas.com.
  19. Web site: Batangas . https://web.archive.org/web/20091026073210/http://geocities.com/lppsec/pp/batangas.htm . 2009-10-26 . geocities.com. [Provincial Profile of Batangas]
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  21. Book: Sánchez de la Rosa, Antonio . Diccionario español-bisaya para las provincias de Sámar y Leyte . 1914 . Santos y Bernal . Manila . es.
  22. Web site: Borrinaga . Rolando O. . 2007 . From Bagasumbul to Naval: A Historical Review . September 7, 2015.
  23. Web site: Borrinaga . Rolando O. . Bago . Alberto M. . Granali . Bienvenido H. . Gahum . Jose . Abilar . Antonio A. . 1992 . Beginnings of Naval, Biliran Island (A Revisionist Account) . September 7, 2015 . oocities.org/rolborr.
  24. Web site: The Island – Province of Bohol . https://web.archive.org/web/20061206204022/http://www.bohol.gov.ph/island.html . December 6, 2006 . Official Website of the Provincial Government of Bohol.
  25. Web site: The Origin of the Word "Bohol" . https://web.archive.org/web/20071214205117/http://www.geocities.com/alancajes/Origin_of_the_Word_Bohol.htm . 2007-12-14 . geocities.com/alancajes.
  26. News: Villanueva . A. Anne . March 23, 2004 . Bukidnon: Tourist Province on the Rise . Mb.com.ph . dead . April 30, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110721050433/http://mb.com.ph/node/160323 . July 21, 2011.
  27. Book: El Archipielago Filipino, Colleccion de Datos . 1900 . Washington, Impr. del gobierno . Jose Algue.
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  29. Bernard . Miguel A. . 1976 . Nomenclature by Mispronunciation: A Footnote to Philippine Geography . Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society . 4 . 4 . 55–57 . 29791237.
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  31. Web site: Philippine Information Agency OPS . Provincial Profile of Cagayan . Philippine Information Agency . https://web.archive.org/web/20070221092548/http://www.pia.gov.ph/info/provinces/cagayan.pdf . February 21, 2007.
  32. Book: Scott, William Henry . Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society . Ateneo de Manila University Press . 1994 . 978-971-550-135-4 . 179.
  33. http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/word.php?v=172 Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database – Word: to climb
  34. Web site: CULASI Philippines . The Colour of Culasi Forums.
  35. Web site: Capiz Province in the Philippines . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090425232704/http://www.1stphilippines.com/pp-37970f6c96de82b94c5e3af92db41227.html . April 25, 2009 . May 12, 2009.
  36. Web site: Diocese of Virac . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100617162858/http://www.cbcponline.net/virac/ . June 17, 2010 . May 12, 2009.
  37. Web site: September 17, 2008 . Cavite City . https://web.archive.org/web/20090301233846/http://cavite.gov.ph/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=90 . March 1, 2009 . Official Website of the Provincial Government of Cavite.
  38. Book: Risnen . Assni . A Handbook of Cebuano . Nida Räisänen . Lulu.com . 2007 . 978-1-84753-101-8 . 3.
  39. Book: McKenna, Thomas A. . Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines . University of California Press . 1998 . 0-520-21015-8 . Berkeley . 27.
  40. Book: Gisbert, Mateo . Diccionario bagobo-español . 1892 . Tipo-Litográfico de Ramirez y Compañía . 9788499530512 . Manila.
  41. Book: Corcino, Ernesto I. . Davao History . Philippine Centennial Movement, Davao City Chapter . 1998 . 978-971-92007-0-3.
  42. 1867 . Nalezingen en Verbeteringen op Padtbrugges Reisjournaal . Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië . 14 . 4 . 558–565 . 10.1163/22134379-90000895 . 25735893. Kitlv . Redactie . free .
  43. http://comval.blogspot.com/2006/01/comval-one-untouched-by-spanish.html Comval, one untouched by the Spanish
  44. Web site: Festivals . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090609084815/http://www.experiencephilippines.ph/LM/p6/events/Events.html . June 9, 2009 . April 4, 2015 . Experience Philippines.
  45. Web site: Brief History . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090204073826/http://guimaras.gov.ph/generalinfo/index.htm . February 4, 2009 . May 12, 2009 . Official Website of the Provincial Government of Guimaras.
  46. Web site: Sianghio . Christina . n.d. . Ifugao . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090418142741/http://litera1no4.tripod.com/ifugao_frame.html . April 18, 2009 . May 12, 2009.
  47. Web site: Ifugao . https://web.archive.org/web/20020421020902/http://www.geocities.com/lppsec/pp/ifugao.htm . 2002-04-21 . geocities.com.
  48. Web site: Agcaoili . Aurelio S. . The Ilokano Language: History, Culture, and Structure – Series 3, Sorting out the 'loko/luko/look/luco' controversy . April 7, 2015.
  49. Web site: Iloilo: Heart of the Philippines . dead . Official Website of the Provincial Government of Iloilo . May 12, 2009 . April 28, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090428195316/http://www.iloilo.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=176&Itemid=180 .
  50. Web site: Isabella . https://web.archive.org/web/20091027105136/http://www.geocities.com/edgarbook/names/i/isabella.html . 2009-10-27 . Edgar's Name Pages.
  51. Book: Las Razas Indigenas de Filipinas por el Profesor D. Fernando Blumentritt . Sociedad Geografica de Madrid . Fernando Blumentritt.
  52. Book: The Bontoc Igorot . 1905 . Department of the Interior . Albert Ernest Jenks.
  53. Book: Llamzon, Teodoro A. . Handbook of Philippine Language Groups . Ateneo de Manila University Press . 1978 . Quezon City . 50.
  54. Book: Billiet . Francisco . Studies on Kalinga Ullalim and Ifugaw Orthography . Lambrecht . Francis . 1974 . Catholic School Press . Baguio City . 8.
  55. Web site: La Union . https://web.archive.org/web/20041218021416/http://www.geocities.com/lppsec/pp/launion.htm . 2004-12-18 . geocities.com.
  56. Web site: Laguna . https://web.archive.org/web/20011117172003/http://www.geocities.com/lppsec/pp/laguna.htm . 2001-11-17 . geocities.com.
  57. Web site: ARMM – Provinces.
  58. Book: Tantuico, Jr., Francisco Sypaco . Leyte Towns: Histories, Legends . 1980 . 66 . April 15, 2015.
  59. Book: Artigas y Cuerva, Manuel . The Colonial Odyssey of Leyte, 1521–1914: A Translation of Reseña de la Provincia de Leyte . 2006 . New Day Publishers . 9789715061995 . Borrinaga . Rolando O. . 3 . April 15, 2015 . Kobak . Cantius J..
  60. Book: Alcina, Francisco Ignacio . Historia de Las Islas E Indios de Bisayas, 1668 – Volume 1 of History of the Bisayan people in the Philippine Islands: evangelization and culture at the contact period . 1668 . UST Publishing House . Translated by Cantius J. Kobak . 9789715061995 . Kobak . Cantius J. . 2002 . 126–127 . April 15, 2015 . Gutiérrez . Lucio.
  61. Book: Goquinco, Leonor Orosa . The Dances of the Emerald Isles: A Great Philippine Heritage . 1980 . Ben-Lor Publishers . Quezon City . 178.
  62. Book: Lopez . Cecilio . Selected writings of Cecilio Lopez in Philippine linguistics . Constantino . Ernesto . Archives of Philippine Languages and Dialects, University of the Philippines . 1977 . 4.
  63. Web site: Puwe.de Tagalog Dictionary.
  64. Book: The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898, Volume 3 (1569–1576) . The A. H. Clark Company . 1903 . Blair . Emma Helen . Cleveland . 173 . Robertson . James Alexander.
  65. Book: Leyte-Samar Studies, Volumes 1–2 . Divine Word University, Graduate School . 1967 . 128.
  66. Book: Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino . Bokabularyong Traylinggwal: Bicol (Naga) - Filipino - English . 2004 . Maynila . 128.
  67. Book: The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898, Volume 3 (1569–1576) . The A. H. Clark Company . 1903 . Blair . Emma Helen . Cleveland . 197 . Robertson . James Alexander.
  68. Book: Márcos de Lisboa . Vocabulario de la lengua Bicol . Estabilicimiento Tipográfica del Colegio de Santo Tomas . 1865 . 343.
  69. Book: Romualdez, Norberto . Discursos leídos ante la Academia Filipina en la recepción pública del Norberto Romualdez el dia 25 de Julio de 1933 . 1933 . Imprensa de Santos y Bernal . Manila . 16 . es.
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  71. Book: Pires, Tomé . Travel Accounts of the Islands (1513–1787) . Filipiniana Book Guild . 1971 . 86.
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  74. Postma . Antoon . December 1977 . Mindoro Missions Revisited . Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society . Cebu City . University of San Carlos . 5 . 4 . 253 . May 3, 2009.
  75. Book: Morison, Samuel Eliot . History of United States Naval Operations in World War Ii . 1947 . Little, Brown and Company . 13 . Boston . 17.
  76. Web site: Daomilas . Ramon N. . Fort Santiago: The Cotta of Misamis . April 11, 2015.
  77. Web site: History of Ozamiz City . April 11, 2015.
  78. Web site: Province of Misamis Oriental . https://web.archive.org/web/20081030074649/http://www.popcom.gov.ph/regions/10/Misamis%20Oriental%20Profile.htm . October 30, 2008 . Commission on Population.
  79. Web site: Province of Misamis Occidental . Commission on Population . https://web.archive.org/web/20091110021315/http://www.popcom.gov.ph/regions/10/Misamis%20Occidental%20Profile.htm . November 10, 2009 .
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  82. Book: Abigan, Edmund R. . The Philippine Atlas . Philippine Guides . 1998 . 61.
  83. de Villa . E.M. . 1941 . A Contribution to the Geology of Palawan . Industrial Journal . Ithaca . Cornell University . 12 . 16 . May 10, 2009.
  84. Book: Atiyah, Jeremy . Land tenure, conservation and development in Southeast Asia . Routledge . 2005 . 978-0-415-30373-6 . 100.
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  86. Web site: The Pampangos.
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  89. Web site: Italian Baby Names: Quirino . dead . About.com . May 12, 2009 . April 1, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070401083351/http://italian.about.com/library/name/blname_quirino.htm .
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  91. Web site: Jose Protacio Alonso Realonda Mercado Rizal . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150410034340/http://www.filipinaslibrary.org.ph/filipiniana-library/filipiniana/70-features/120-jose-protacio-alonso-realonda-mercado-rizal . April 10, 2015 . April 4, 2015 . Filipinas Heritage Library.
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  93. Book: Tetsudōin, Japan . An Official Guide to Eastern Asia: East Indies . Imperial Japanese Government Railways . 1917 . 5 . 89.
  94. Chamberlain . Alexander F. . 1900 . Philippine Studies: I. Place-Names . The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal . 22 . 393–399.
  95. Web site: Samar . dead . Kamus: Malay-English Dictionary . May 12, 2009 . April 25, 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090425012108/http://www.kamus.com/may-eng/samar .
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  101. Book: Great Britain Hydrographic Office . Eastern Archipelago, Part 1 (Eastern Part) . 1911 . 3rd . London . J.D. Potter.
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  103. Book: The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898 – Volume 43 (1649–1666) . The A. H. Clark Company . 1906 . Blair . Emma Helen . Cleveland . Robertson . James Alexander.
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  108. http://www.advancedcentrepunjabi.org/eos/QUDRAT%20(SPELLED%20QUDRATI%20IN%20GURBANI).html Advanced Centre Punjabi – Qudrat
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  110. Web site: Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care, Department of Health . University of the Philippines Manila . University of the Philippines Mindanao . 2000 . Ethnomedical documentation of and community health education for selected Philippine ethnolinguistic groups: the Mandaya people of Davao Oriental, Philippines . April 22, 2015.
  111. Book: Benito Francia y Ponce de Leon . La Islas Filipinas. Mindanao, Volume 1 . Julián González Parrado . 1898 . Subinspección de Infantería . 197.
  112. Book: de Artieda, Diego . Relation of the Western Islands Called Filipinas . 1576 . Manila . 192.
  113. Book: Paredes . Francis Tom . The Monosyllabic root -ao in Mindanao Languages . Paredes . Sheila . 2017 . Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture and Technology . 8th Annual In-house Review of the Research Office of Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture and Technology.
  114. Book: Dizon, Lino A. . Tarlac and the Revolutionary Landscape: Essays on the Philippine Revolution from a Localized Perspective . Center for Tarlaqueño Studies, Tarlac State University . 1997 . 978-971-91488-1-4 . 65.
  115. http://lgu.pids.gov.ph/index.php?option=com_province&tabs=1&region_id=27 Resources for Local Governance – Tarlac
  116. Book: Crawfurd, John . A Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language: With a Preliminary Dissertation . 1852 . Smith, Elder & Co. . 2: Malay and English, and English and Malay Dictionaries . London . 59.
  117. Book: United States Congress . Congressional edition, Volume 5113 . 1907 . United States Government Printing Office.
  118. Book: Combes, Francisco . Historia de las islas de Mindanao, Jolo y sus adyacentes: progressos de la religion, y armas catolicas . 1667 . Herederos de Pablo de Val. . Madrid . es.
  119. Book: Pazos y Vela-Hidalgo, Pio A. de . Joló: relato histórico-militar desde su descubrimiento por los españoles en 1578 a nuestros días . 1879 . Imprenta y Estereotipia de Polo . Burgos . es . Archive.org.
  120. 1936 . On the Word "Zambales" . The Library Mirror . 3 . 1 . 60.
  121. Nimmo . H. Arlo . 1990 . Religious Beliefs of the Tawi-Tawi Bajau . Philippine Studies . 38 . 1 . 13 . 42633161.
  122. Web site: Barangays of the Philippines . zamboanga.com.