Bonifacio

The origin of the surname Bonifacio

Bonifacio comes from the Latin for “good fate” or “benefactor”; the hero Andrés Bonifacio bore it.

What kind of surname is Bonifacio?

As a descriptive surname (or nickname name), the surname Bonifacio arose from a personal characteristic — a physical trait, a quality of temperament, or a distinguishing feature of its first bearer. Communities have always coined nicknames, and in the age before fixed surnames these vivid, affectionate or teasing labels — referring to hair colour, stature, complexion or character — frequently became hereditary. Descriptive surnames give an unusually human glimpse of an ancestor, hinting at how they looked or how they were regarded by the people around them.

How Filipino surnames work

Filipino surnames are predominantly Spanish, but not because most families are of Spanish descent: in 1849 a colonial decree (the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos) assigned Spanish surnames to Filipino families to systematise records. Alongside these are indigenous names, Chinese-derived surnames and names of other origins, making the Filipino surname landscape a layered record of the islands' history.