# Phillippines vs. Filipino

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phillippines-vs-filipino/42244>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 22, 2000, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phillippines-vs-filipino/42244 "2000-11-22T04:41:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phillippines-vs-filipino/42244/1 "2000-11-22T04:41:57Z")

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Why is the country spelled Phillipines but the inhabitants spelled Filipino? Is it a masculine/feminine thing?

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phillippines-vs-filipino/42244/2 "2000-11-22T05:54:33Z")

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More likely, the name of the country entered English while it was a colony of Spain, dating to the sixteenth century, but the name of a citizen only entered English after the U.S. took over the islands, which occurred after the Spanish-speaking people undertook a spelling simplification/reform that substituted **F** for **Ph**.

(This _is_ a WAG, but I do know that Filipino in English dates to the time of the Spanish-American War.)

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2000, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phillippines-vs-filipino/42244/3 "2000-11-22T13:19:21Z")

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The Spanish name is _Las Filipinas_ or _Las Islas Filipinas_. It was named after a king of Spain, called in modern Spanish “Filepe Segundo”, and in English “Philip II”.

My question is why the islands are called “Filipinas” in Spanish and not “Felipinas”. I’m wondering if he was called Filipe in his own lifetime, and if Felipe is a more modern form. Philip II was also king of Portugal, and in modern Portuguese the name is “Filipe”, so that might have something to do with it.