Anything under the sun
Origins of place-names (12)
After Spanish Governors
There are three towns named after Spanish governors, thus:
Carles – Formerly named after the Malay sky-god Bolokawe, it was renamed during the Spanish time after Don Jose M. Carles, the Spanish governor of Iloilo responsible for making it a pueblo.
Zarraga – this town was named after the Spanish governor of Iloilo, Don Pedro Zarraga who was responsible for its township.
Barbaza – Originally, this place was called Nalupa. But later, it was renamed in honor of the Spanish governor of Antique, Don Enrique Barbaza.
Moreover, Iznart Street in Iloilo City – named after Governor Iznart of Iloilo.
Named by the Atis
The aboriginal Atis of West Visayas have named several places here. Usually they added the prefix "ig" to mean "there is."
The only town in the region named by them was Igbaras, Iloilo which means "there is sand (baras)." Most of the places named by them are barrios in Iloilo like Igcalayo (fire), Igcadios (black brans), Igtambo (bamboo shooots), Igbato (stone), Igtuba (tuba – coconut wine) and Igdalapdap (dapdap tree) in Guimaras.
But in Capiz, the Atis used the prefix "Ag" as in Agdahon (leaves), Agbulak (flower), Aglanot (abaca), Aglangka (jackfruit) and Agbato (stone).