The early
Kapampangan settlements as found by Spaniards, and the early pueblos that they
organized were known by ancient, local names---far different from the names of
today’s modern municipalities and cities. Either derived from plants and trees,
or from their distinctive natural features and location, many of these names
are hardly remembered by young Kapampangans today.
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1. CANDAUE (Candaba)
Candaba originally had an older variant
name—Candaue, Candawe—which refers to a place where the municipal cemetery is now
located. In old maps, the ancient settlement was marked as “Candave”,
“Candava”, and eventually localized to “Candaba”. Already a rich settlement in
1571, it also has one of the oldest barrios in the province—Mandasig—founded by
Mandic, the wife and first cousin of Malangsic, one of the children of Prince
Balagtas, as related in the 1539 will of Pansomun.
2. PÚRAC (Porac)
“Púrac”or “Pórag” was how the name of Porac was
pronounced in the 1850s. “Púrac” was a flowering rattan plant (Calamus curag)
which must have grown and proliferated in the area, now known as Porac.
3. BACULUD (Bacolor)
The town known for its people of arts, literature and
culture was called “Baculud”, from the word “macabaculud”, an upland surrounded
by low-lying lands—which refers to Lubao. Its name has the same etymological origin as
the city of Bacolod. Founded in 1571, “Bacolor”
is the Hispanic name of this former capital of Pampanga.
Before the coming of the Spaniards, the town was called
by its ancient name “Balayan ning Pambuit”, then located at barrio Palinlang
(or Paglinglang), as the poblacion was
still forested. In vernacular, the place was originally called “dayat”, which
means ‘an irrigated riceland or seedbed. Its most visible landmark is Bunduk
Alaya (from ‘paralaya”, thus, eastern
mountain).
5. MASICÚ (Mexico)
Before it was christened as Mexico in 1577, the place was
called “Masicu”—and pronounced that way-- which may been derived from the “síko
fruits” (chicos) that supposedly grew in the area, hence, “ma-sicu”. Another
version had it that the town was “elbowing other towns”—hence, “macasicu”. In
any case, the name was Romanized to “Mexico”, before the replacement of ‘X”
with “J”, after the 19th century.
6. WAWÂ (Guagua)
The ancient prosperous town was originally called in
“Wawâ”, which means “the mouth of a river”, based on its location. The spelling
was Hispanized into “Guagua”in 1590, in much the same way that the “wa” of
Palawan was written in old Spanish maps as “Paragua”.
7. PINPÍN (Santa Ana)
The ancient name of Santa Ana is “Pinpin” (variations:
Pimping, Pingping, Pimpin) after an important person who may have lived during
the time of Malangsíc. It was then placed under the advocation of Santa Ana
when the Spaniards came, a name the town adopted.
8. BABÂ (Lubao)
“Babâ” is Kapampangan for “low”, in contrast to
“baculud”. “Lubao” or “tubao”, is an extinct word meaning “to arise, or emerge,
or float from water” (its modern form is the dipthong “gatao” or “gato”, to
float) . “Babâ Lubao” thus means “to rise from the low depths of the water”.
Old residents still refer to themselves as “tau cu Babâ”.
9. SANTA RITA DE LELE
(Santa Rita)
As a neighbor of the major town of Bacolor to where
residents would go for their daily marketing and commercial transactions, the
town was known as “Sta. Rita de Lele”.
It was also called “Sta. Rita Baculud”.
10. SASMOAN (Sexmoan)
Sasmuan was written on maps for over a century as
“Sexmoan”, the Spanish transcription of the old town’s name, until 1991, when
it reverted back to its vernacular version—Sasmuan. “Sasmoan” means “a place of
convergence”, a meeting place where Kapampangans met when they were waging war
with the Chinese. The sexual connotation of Sexmoan in English prompted the
municipal government to return to the old name.
11. CABAGSÁC (San
Luis)
“Cabagsác” was the former name of the town of San Luis, a
contraction of “cabág bagsac” , or “bagsácan cabag”, which means “ a drop-off
place of fruit bats”. The name was
extended to “San Nicolas Cabagsác”, to honor its Spanish Augustinian priest,
Fray Nicolas de Orduño.
12. VIRGEN DEL PILAR
(San Simon)
Tradition has it that the former name of an Simon town
was “Virgen del Pilar”, its titular patroness whose fiesta is celebrated every
October 12. It is also to honor the memory of its founder, Mariano del Pilar.
13. BALIWAG (Santo
Tomas)
The traditional name of Santo Tomas is “Baliwag”, a new
town in 1773. It is derived from the term “maliwag”,someone prone to habitual
tardiness. It was rechristend Santo Tomas in 1792.
14. CULIÁT (Angeles)
The town was inaugurated in 1829, and was given two names
by its founder, Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda: ‘Culiat’, a woody vine (Gnetum indicum Lour.) that grew in
abundance in the area cleared by his tenants and future residents of the place.
Another name given was “Angeles” in honor of the ‘Los Santos Angeles Custodios”
(Holy Guardian Angels), titular patrons of the town, and of the founder
himself. Only oldtimers use Culiat nowadays; to modern-day residents, Angeles
is preferred, as it has a more cosmopolitan ring for a city.
15. SAN MIGUEL
(Masantol)
Masantol used to be a barrio of Macabebe, as recorded in
the 1853 census. It was known as San
Miguel, formed from the Macabebe barrios of Bebe, Bulacus, Caingin and Nigui
sometime in 1877 or 1878. It was renamed Masantol, meaning “a place full of santol (Sandoricum koetjape
Merr.) fruit trees” after 1903.
16. CAUMPAUI
(Floridablanca)
Before the town was named either after the count of
Floridablanca, Jose Moniño (1728-1803) or the white pandacaqui flower, there
was a certain place called “Caumpaui” existing in the area in 1847, that was
established earlier by Spanish missionaries as a “hacienda” and administered
from Lubao. It was transferred to the new town in 1867. Floridablanca is
considered as Pampanga’s youngest town,
SOURCE:
Henson, Mariano.
The Province of Pampanga and its Towns(A.D.1300-1962)
