60 Filipino baby names: popular, traditional and unusual names for boys and girl

Kait Hanson and Rebecca Dube
·2 min read
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Filipino baby names draw from a diverse variety of languages and cultural sources. Parents looking for cool, unusual, creative and distinctive baby names could look to the Philippines for inspiration.

The Republic of the Philippines is a country is southeast Asia consisting of more than 7,000 islands (only about 2,000 are inhabited).

Filipino boy names and girl names often have Spanish influence, according to baby naming consultant Taylor Humphrey of What’s In a Baby Name.

"As the Philippines were a Spanish colony for 333 years, there’s a wide overlap between Filipino names and Spanish names, which are really popular in the U.S.," Humphrey said.

The Philippines were then a U.S. colony for almost 50 years, leading to a lot of overlapping in baby name trends.

Famous Americans with Filipino heritage include Bruno Mars, Dave Bautista, Olivia Rodrigo, H.E.R., Saweetie, Nicole Scherzinger and Vanessa Hudgens.

The Vital Statistics division of the Philippines Statistics Authority released lists of the most popular baby names in the Philippines in 2021.

10 most popular Filipino boy names with meanings

Jacob — supplanter

Nathaniel — gift of God

Gabriel — God is my strength

Nathan — given

Ethan — strong, firm

Ezekiel — God strengthens

Angelo — angel, messenger

James — supplanter

Joshua — the Lord is my salvation

Kyle — narrow spit of land

"All but three of the names — Nathaniel, Angelo and Kyle — fall within the U.S.’s top 100 most popular name list," Humphrey told TODAY Parents.

10 most popular Filipino girl names with meanings

Althea — with healing power

Angel — angel

Samantha — told by God

Princess — princess

Nathalie — birthday of the Lord

Sofia — wisdom

Sophia — wisdom

Jasmine — gift from God

Andrea — strong and manly

Angela — angel

"Of these 10, only Sofia and Sophia fall within the U.S. top 100," Humphrey said.

Humphrey added that of these other names Samantha, Nathalie and Jasmine were most popular in the mid-to-late 90s, while others like Andrea and Angela reached peak popularity in the late 70s.

Here are more Filipino baby names, according to the Pampers web site. As befits the diverse culture of the Philippines, these names draw from a wide variety of sources, from classical languages and traditional stories to popular culture.

Filipino boy names

  1. Agustin

  2. Arturo

  3. Bagwis

  4. Bayani

  5. Crisanto

  6. Dakila

  7. Hari

  8. Jomari

  9. Kidlat

  10. Makisig

  11. Alon

  12. Brando

  13. Buhawi

  14. Datu

  15. Gregorio

  16. Isagani

  17. Joselito

  18. Nimuel

  19. Ricardo

  20. Sandro

Filipino girl names

  1. Bernila

  2. Carmelita

  3. Christina

  4. Dolores

  5. Evangeline

  6. Liezel

  7. Maria

  8. Odesa

  9. Perlah

  10. Reyna

  11. Amparo

  12. Bituin

  13. Cecilia

  14. Divina

  15. Gloria

  16. Katherine

  17. Liwayway

  18. Maganda

  19. Patience

  20. Victoria

This article was originally published on TODAY.com