Filipino Surnames: A General Picture

Cojuangco, Tantoco, Gokongwei, etc.). A very small population of names also come from other languages, such as Arabic and other Asian roots.

- Todd Sales Lucero

The top Spanish surname is "dela Cruz" (also de la Cruz), with approximately 849,432 people carrying it as a surname as of 2025 and found in 1,502 cities and municipalities in the Philippines. However, this surname was actually prohibited by the decree from being adopted, although many families still continued to use it due to its religious implications or were somehow allowed to adopt it officially. If we consider only a surname that was sanctioned and li