Search Spanish, Chinese-Hispanicized, native, and Muslim Filipino surnames — and the 1849 decree that shaped most of them.
Most Filipino surnames trace back to a single event: the 1849 Clavería Decree, when Filipino families were assigned surnames from an official catalog. Some kept older, native names. Others carry Chinese roots hispanicized generations earlier. Muslim Filipino families in Mindanao and Sulu followed an entirely separate tradition.
Read the full history — and why so many family trees hit a wall at 1849 — on the History page.
Read the Full HistoryA surname tells you the origin story. Tracing your actual ancestors — the people who carried it — takes real genealogical records.
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