Magaoay Meaning and History

Magaoay Meaning

While researching my surname, I came across Katálogo ng mga Apelyidong Pilipino. In that blog post, they provided meanings for some Filipino surnames.

I went to the letter M and looked for Ilocano surnames. There’s Mabalo, which means “to be widowed”. Mabayag means “a long time”. Macadengdeng means “vegetable cook”. Macalipat means “forgetful”. Madarang means “to burn”.

Magaoay had no meaning.

I looked for gaoay in online Ilocano dictionaries but had no luck.

Lost interest, moved on, and eventually forgot about it.

My curiosity sparked again when I heard the phrase “Adda gaoay na”. Maybe it wasn’t gibberish after all.

This time, I searched old Ilocano dictionaries online.

Then boom!

Magaoay or Magaway or Magauay

Unlike gaoay, the dictionaries mentioned above have no entries for gaway or gauay.

The Magaway version came about to make it easier for Americans to read.

Only Magauay appears in the Catalogo (1849), but I found an earlier christening record for a certain Camilo and Camila Magaoay dated 1829.

You can decide for your self which is original.

History

Wip 🚧.