MORALES/TOLENTINO

MORALES HISTORIOGRAPHY

I wished that I was more receptive and more inquisitive when my father was telling the story of why we have the surname Morales. The story goes that our supposed family name should be Tolentino. His great grandfather had to change it because he was a hot item for the Spaniards in those days. He was a rebel, opposed to the Spaniards domination of the people and the country. In those days, anyone that was opposed to the government were "persona non grata." If caught, one ended up on the other end of the firing squad. To elude the Spaniards he changed his surname to Morales; the surname of his godfather from another province. He was able to live a long and fruitful life, thus, the Morales became one of the Tagalog tribe. There are few Tagalog Morales and most of them are related to us. The others, you will find them in the provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan, and in the Visayan islands.

Originally the Tolentino, Spanish/Italian and Jews came from Italy. It is a habitational name from the city of Tolentino in Macerata province of Italy. It was adapted as a given name in Spain because of its association with St. Nicholas of Tolentino (c. 1245-1305).

Well, what is in a name? The surname Morales appears to be patronymical and locational in origin and believed to be associated with the Spanish and Portuguese meaning,"the son of Moral (right and proper); one who came from Morales (mulberry tree), the name of two towns in Spain; dweller near a mulberry or blackberry bush."

With the almost four hundred years of the Spanish in the Philippines, Spanish surnames were sure to appear in the church's registries.

In the Philippines, it is not common to have a middle name per se'. One always carries the surname of one's mother next to his name. Jose Ramos Morales, indicates that my mother's surname is Ramos. I think it is changing now, as I have seen some of the Filipino names, specially those that have been born outside the Philippines. My name was also the first name of my father. I think he gave the name Flordeliza for my sister, Wilfrido and Renato for my brothers. The younger ones were chosen by my parents. Practically all the names of my cousins on my father side were "mandated" by my grandfather. He was the name giver! Except for the younger ones who came later after he died.