Here's a little bit of facts and other tidbits that might be of interest to you. We hope you enjoy them. If you have anything to add or another story to tell, please let me know and I'll add it here.

Last name variations

There are currently three variations of the Chingcuangco name that we are aware of.

Chingcuangco, Chincuanco, and Chingcuanco.

The name Chincuanco can be traced down to one man, Urbano Chincuanco. We know Urbano is the original Chincuanco because his father and brother's last names were still Chingcuangco. We are assuming that Urbano changed his name prior to the birth of his first child, Fausto Chincuanco, in 1907.

The origin of the Chingcuanco variation is still a mystery to us.

Crispulo's Children

Crispulo Chingcuangco, born in 1860, is one of the eldest Chingcuangco in our tree. His known sons are Wenceslao and Marciano Chingcuangco. Although, we are aware that Crispulo had children other than Wenceslao and Marciano.

A recent query by Joe Chincuanco to Apung Bening (one of our clan elders) gave us a little bit of insight into this mystery. This to say when asked if Wenceslao and Marciano had brothers and sisters.

I recall that they (Crispulo and Jose) had a brother nicknamed Minong who died a bachelor and who was sort of a happy-go-lucky fellow during his lifetime.

I dimly remember they had sisters too but I can't recall their names, not even one. I think one of them married an Enriquez. They had a brother too named Magno but I also cannot tell if he died with children or what not.

They lived during that period of time when one did not bother much in tracing and knowing their relationships with each other but were content in knowing and treating each other as relatives, affectionately calling each other kuya (older brother/cousin), ate (older sister/cousin), mama(uncle), dara (auntie), etc., etc.

Early History

Where did we come from?

Nobody really knows exactly but here's what we have so far.

In 1849, 90% of the Chinese population in Philippines lived in or around Manila. Over 90% of the Chinese are Hokkiens. (source: Philippine National Census and Statistics Office).

Most of the Filipino-Chinese surnames date from the 19th century and later when most Chinese immigrants came to the Philippines. Names ending with "-go" or "-co" or "-son" often reflect contractions of generic terms or honorifics.

The Chingcuangcos around the world seem to have commonly originated from the province of Pampanga, Philippines. More specifically from the towns of Lubao, Floridablanca and especially Guagua.

What can we derive from these?

Sadly, not much. The facts are still merely just consequential.

The Hokkien language emerge from China's Fujian province. So it is "likely" that the Chingcuangcos originally came from the Fukien (Fujian) Province of China. Fujian is right across Taiwan on the South-East border of China.

I have "heard" that the Chingcuangco's originally came from Macau or Amoy. It makes sense if this is true since Macau and Amoy is in the Fujian province and speaks Hokkien.

It is also safe to assume that the last two letters "co" of our last name were not part of the original.

"Ching" doesn't exist in Chinese dictionaries but "Chin" does. From this premise, I am assuming that the original first syllable of my last name is "Chin" and not "Ching"

Neither "Cuang" nor "Cuan" exist in the many Chinese dictionaries I've tried. It is very likely that this part of my last name was originally spelled differently.

We also know that modern (last few centuries) Chinese names usually have a surname, then a given name. Always in that order. From this I assume that my last name was originally just "Chin." It is also possible that Cuan, Cuang, or Kwang was the first name of the original Chingcuangco