Re: What is the origin, meaning and history of Madrilejos?
in reply to a message by Janhendricks8
Hello, this post is from very long ago but I am happy to tell you the history of our name! In 1849, a Spanish decree was passed which forced the majority of Filipinos to change their names to something that sounded more Spanish. To do this, the government sent out a book of approved names called the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos. The father of every family whose surname was no longer allowed chose a name out of this book, and that was that family's surname from then on.
If you look that book up on Wikipedia, you can find an online copy. Madrilejos can be found on page 114, as can Madrigalejo and Madridejo. So unfortunately we cannot know any history from the name alone, it is much more likely that our great great grandfathers picked the name Madrilejos at random or just because they liked it.
If you look that book up on Wikipedia, you can find an online copy. Madrilejos can be found on page 114, as can Madrigalejo and Madridejo. So unfortunately we cannot know any history from the name alone, it is much more likely that our great great grandfathers picked the name Madrilejos at random or just because they liked it.