How to Write Your Name in Baybayin

Perhaps the number one question about Baybayin is “How do I write my name in Baybayin?” The easiest way of course is to post this question in a Baybayin group and wait for someone to answer with a Baybayin transliteration of your name. However, if you are like me who loves to exercise their brain and learn new things, then you have come to the right place.

Because for today we will learn how to write our name in Baybayin!

But first, if you do not know how to read and write Baybayin, I made a post to help you do so. Please check How To Read and Write Baybayin.

Alright, let’s begin! There is a de facto rule within the Baybayin community that any foreign words should be translated first into Filipino before writing it in Baybayin. This rule extends to writing names as well (name equivalent). However, it is just more of a guide rather than being an official rule. Even other writing systems like Japan’s Kana or Korea’s Hangul transliterate foreign words and names without the need to translate or change them to their local equivalent.

And as for your name, whether you wish to change it first or to just transliterate it right away is all up to you. For example, if your name is Richard, you do have the option to render/translate it into Ricardo first or to transliterate it into Baybayin right away, like Ritsard or Rityard. After all, it is your name and no one knows how to write it best except you. As for me, I would highly recommend doing the latter. Just spell it the way you say it, no need to change it.

It’s up to you whether you would like to change your name to its Filipino equivalent or not.

Please note, however, that what I am going to share here are just guidelines to help you write your name in Baybayin. In the end, it is still up to you how you are going to write your name. As long as it is legible then you are good to go. Names are of personal matter, but the last thing that you would want is to write your name in Baybayin the wrong way.

The Rule

In my previous post, I mentioned the rule of thumb in Baybayin. Don’t worry if you haven’t read it yet, the rule of Baybayin is simple:

“Kung ano ang bigkas, siyang baybay.” (Spell it the way you say it.)

Baybayin

And that is how it should be when writing your name as well. I also mentioned that we have two ways of writing Baybayin: Traditional and Reformed. We will cover both ways to write your name here in this post.

Spell It The Way You Say It

Yes, this is like the golden rule in Baybayin. Whether you have a foreign name with complicated spellings and lot of silent letters, it still boils down to this one rule. For example: if your name is Mae or May, then we should spell it as ᜋᜒ “Me” (traditional) or ᜋᜒᜌ᜔ “Mey” (reformed) and NOT ᜋᜁ (Ma-E) NOR ᜋᜆ᜔ (Ma-Y, pronounced as English “My” and not the month May). Always remember that the vowel characters in Baybayin are pronounced individually.

Spell it the way you say it.

Baybayin Is NOT An Alphabet

One common mistake in writing names in Baybayin is by treating the characters like letters in the alphabet. For example, Pedro is mistakenly spelled as ᜉᜁᜇᜇᜂ. What was written was really not Pedro but actually Paedarao (Pa-E-Da-Ra-O). The correct way to spell the name is ᜉᜇᜓ (Pero) in traditional and ᜉᜒᜇ᜔ᜇᜓ (Pedro) in the reformed way. Remember that Baybayin is an Abugida or alphasyllabary. Also remember that final consonants are dropped in the traditional way.

Baybayin is NOT an alphabet.

Initial Consonant Cluster

As mentioned in the previous post, in traditional writing, simply separate the consonants and insert a vowel for syllables that start with a consonant cluster. And simply use the virama in the reformed way. For example, if your name is Christian, then we should spell it as ᜃᜒᜇᜒᜆᜒᜌ “Kiritiya” (traditional) and ᜃ᜔ᜇᜒᜐ᜔ᜆ᜔ᜌᜈ᜔ “Kristyan” (reformed).

Furthermore, in our Pedro example earlier, the “D” can act as the final consonant in the syllable “Ped” rather than an initial consonant cluster in the final syllable “Dro”. That’s why the “D” was dropped in the traditional writing (Pero). However, it is still up to Pedro if he would like to spell his name as Pedoro/Pediro, or Pero in the traditional way of writing.

Initial Consonant Cluster

Diphthongs

Some of our examples earlier (Mae, May and Christian) also have diphthongs in them. For names with diphthongs, just remember not to use two consecutive vowel characters in Baybayin as they are pronounced individually. Another example is Paul. Paul should be spelled as ᜉᜓ “Po” (traditional) or ᜉᜓᜎ᜔ “Pol” in (reformed) and NOT Pa-UL (Pa-All).

Diphthongs

Silent Letters, Hyphen and Abbreviations

Silent letters if there are any are dropped since…err…well, they are silent and not pronounced at all. 😅

Silent Letters

Hyphens are dropped as well and abbreviated names (with a full stop/period) should be spelled fully depending on the pronunciation, eg., Ma. as ᜋᜇᜒᜌ (Mariya “Maria”). However, if Ma. is pronounced as “Ma” instead of “Maria”, then writing it as “Ma” should be fine.

Hyphen and Abbreviation

Foreign Sounds Guide

Foreign sounds or letters like C, Ch, F, J, Ll, Ñ, Q, Sh, V, X and Z can be written by compounding characters or via allophones. Just remember the rule to spell it the way you say it. I posted this before so I am just going to paste it here:

• C (like in cake) – Use “Ka” characters.
• C (like in center) – Use “Sa” characters.
• Ch (like in chance) – Use a combination of “Ti” (Traditional)/“T” (Reformed) and a “Ya” or “Sa” character.
• F – Use “Pa” characters.
• J (like in Juan) – Use “Ha” characters.
• J (like in John) – Use a combination of “Di” (Traditional)/“D” (Reformed) and a “Ya” character.
• Ll – Depending on the pronunciation, use either “Ya” or compounded “Ja” characters.

Foreign Sounds (C – Ll)

• Ll (like in Llamaz) – Use a combination of “Li” (Traditional)/“L” (Reformed) and a “Ya” character.
• Ñ – Use a combination of “Ni” (Traditional)/“N” (Reformed) and a “Ya” character.
• Q (like in Qatar) – Use “Ka” characters.
• Q (like in Queen) – Use a combination of “Ku” (Traditional)/“K” (Reformed) and a “Wa” character.
• Sh (like in ship) – Use a combination of “Si” (Traditional)/“S” (Reformed) and a “Ya” character.

Foreign Sounds (Ll – Sh)

• Th – Depending on the pronunciation, use either “Ta” or “Da” characters.
• V – Use “Ba” characters.
• X (like the ‘xe’ in xerox) – Use “Sa” characters.
• X (like in Roxas) – Use “Ha” characters.
• X (like in boxing) – Use a combination of “Ki” (Traditional)/“K” (Reformed) and a “Sa” character.
• X (like in exact) – Use a combination of “Gi” (Traditional)/“G” (Reformed) and a “Sa” characters.
• Z – Use “Sa” characters.

Foreign Sounds (Th – Z)

Suggested Modern Characters

A lot of suggestions were made to modernize the Baybayin. These suggestions added characters to accommodate foreign names and letters. I have explained this in another post at Versions of Baybayin.

We also have a modern Baybayin called Modern Baybayin B17+ (MB17+). This preserves the original 17 characters and instead of adding new characters, diacritics are added to accommodate foreign names and letters making it practical and easy to use and memorize. You can read more about it at Modern Baybayin (MB17+).

MB17+ (Click image to view in HD)

To Review

• Kung ano ang bigkas siyang baybay. (Spell it the way you say it.)
• It is up to you whether you would like to change your name to its Filipino equivalent or not.
• Do not treat the Baybayin characters like letters in the alphabet.
• Drop the final consonants in traditional writing.
• In traditional writing, separate the consonants and insert a vowel in between if the syllable starts with a consonant cluster.
• In the reformed way, use a virama for final consonants and consonant cluster.
• Do not use two vowel characters for diphthongs.
• Drop the silent letters and hyphen if there are any.
• Spell the full abbreviated name depending on the pronunciation.
• Lastly, just have fun!

I guess that is all we need to write our name in Baybayin. I hope I was able to help you write your name in Baybayin. If you have any question, please do not hesitate to ask below. ᜋᜇᜋᜒ ᜐᜎᜋ! / ᜋᜇᜋᜒᜅ᜔ ᜐᜎᜋᜆ᜔! God Bless =>

Thank you! 😁