The Surname Rizal |
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The real surname of the Rizal family was Mercado, which was adopted in 1731 by Domingo Lamco (the paternal great-great-grandfather of Jose Rizal), who was a full-blooded Chinese. Rizal’s family acquired a second surname – Rizal – which was given by a Spanish alcalde mayor of Laguna, who was a family friend. Thus said Dr. Rizal, in his letter to Blumentritt (without date or place): I am the only Rizal because at home my parents, my sisters, my brother, and my relatives have always preferred our old surname Mercado. Our family name was in fact Mercado, but there were many Mercado’s in the Philippines who are not related to us. It is said that an alcalde mayor, who was a friend of our family added Rizal to our name. My family did not pay much attention to this, but now I have to use it. In this way, it seems that I am an illegitimate son. “Whoever that Spanish alcalde mayor was,” commented Ambassador Leon Ma. Guerrero, distinguished Rizalist and diplomat, “his choice was prophetic for Rizal in Spanish means a field where wheat, cut while still green, sprouts again” |
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The Rizal Ancestry Rizal's Parents The Surname Rizal The Rizal Home Homelife of the Rizal |
