What’s in a Name?

What’s  in a  Name?

By  Apolinario  Villalobos

 

There are two things that matter in a name –   honor or disgrace.  When the pork barrel scam hugged the limelight, Janet Lim Napoles surfaced as the alleged perpetrator.  Her first name became a plague that hounded her unfortunate namesakes.  Lim  is  not  much of  a bother because,  such  Chinese name is  so common  that  it  covers  several pages of phone directories.  The name does not even become red on the computer screen if you type it on the keyboard.  But, woe to those who belong to the Napoles clan, because their name is attached to Janet by virtue of her marriage to one of their members.

There  are  stories  about  women who had to get  married  posthaste just so,  they will no  longer be  taunted due to what  their  maiden family  name  connotes. But sometimes, the result of this effort is even more tragic.  In the name of love, however, they just proceed  with the signing of contract.  The family names mentioned below are real:       

–          Marlene Liyad  married  Oscar Dapa  and  became  Mrs.    Marlene  Liyad  Dapa

–          Dely  Bugtong  married   William  Sagutna   and  became  Mrs.  Dely  Bugtong  Sagutna

–          Josephine Cantor married  Jess  Tulain  and  became  Mrs.  Josephine Cantor Tulain

–          Cynthia Malisa  married  Ted  Cutujin  and  became  Mrs. Cynthia Malisa  Cutujin

–          Cathy Tungkuran  married  Jose  Pilaypa  and  became  Mrs.  Cathy Tungkuran  Pilaypa

–          Virginia Go  married  Elpidio  Layan  and  became  Virginia  Go  Layan

–          Erlinda  Ma  married  Cenon  Lanza  and  became  Erlinda  Ma  Lanza

There are more meaningful names that I have written down but advertently excluded them from the list above, as my commentary might be censored, due to their very sexplicit implication.

With the influx of high technology, some parents, who wanted to go with the time, name their children after gadgets and IT terms, hence, there are children today with such names as, Celfonne, Samsungh, Nokia, Eljie, Mai-fon, Charj, Layk, Lovatte, and Thext. I met a woman who named her eldest son, Ulo, for being the eldest and since she expects to have more children, she plans to name the rest, Taynga, Mata, Labi, Pisngi and other parts of the human body as they come. I did not ask if she plans to use the names of body parts down there. The woman is a member of Gabriela, an ultra-nationalistic feminist group. Then there’s a friend who named his eldest son, King, the second child Queenie, the next Prince, the next Princess, the next Knight, and the youngest, Jester.

I met a couple in Tondo, who named their children after Jesus and his disciples. So the eldest is named Jesus, with the rest after the disciples. Good thing, the wife stopped giving birth after the twelfth child, otherwise, the thirteenth could have been named Judas.

So what’s in a name? I would say….plenty!