Write your name in Baybayin.
The script the islands used before the alphabet arrived. Type your name and watch it return to the older sound.
Baybayin writes sound, not spelling. Spell it the way you say it: Kristian, Maykel, Anghelo, Alan.
How your name breaks apart
Every consonant already holds an A
ᜃ on its own reads ka. A mark above turns it to ki, a mark below to ku. Vowels only get their own letter when they start a word.
Where did E and O go?
The script has three vowels: A, I, U. To pre-colonial ears, E and I were one sound, and so were O and U. So E is written with the I glyph and O with the U glyph — Jose becomes ᜑᜓᜐᜒ, ho-si.
There is no F, V, Z, J, C, Q, or X
Baybayin follows sound, not spelling. F becomes P, V becomes B, Z becomes S, J becomes H, Q becomes K. Those letters arrived with Spanish.
Traditional drops the last consonant
Before 1600, a final consonant simply went unwritten, so readers supplied it. Around 1620 Spanish friars added the krus-kudlit ᜃ᜔ to cancel that vowel. That is Modern.
Two consonants cannot open a syllable
A name starting with Cr or Fr gets an echoed vowel to pull them apart. It is why Spanish Cruz was written Ku-rus, and why Francisco becomes Pa-ra-si-ko.
D and R were once the same letter
Traditional Baybayin wrote both with ᜇ. The separate R, ᜍ, is a modern addition. Switch modes and watch any R in your name change shape.
There is more where this came from.
The Reader's Companion to Taglarawan is free. It covers the beliefs the novel is built on, the ones most of us were never taught.
- The Babaylan, the healer who held a village's entire body of knowledge
- The multipart soul, and why one piece of you wanders while you sleep
- A fuller guide to reading and writing Baybayin
- A glossary of the spirits, terms, and places of the novel
No spam. Just the lore, and word when the book is ready. If Gmail files it under Promotions, drag it to Primary so you never miss the launch.