Baybayin, The Ancient Script of the Philippines

When I was younger I used to imitate Chinese and Japanese writings on paper, napkins, walls, and even my own skin. There's something mesmerizing about each intricate character, each with it's own profound meaning. I find it real interesting when cultures have their own script and alphabet. I admired how mysterious these ancient writings appeared. Somewhat like a secret code. Little did I know that my own culture had it's own ancient script. Up until today I thought very little of the Filipino Alphabet. Everything writes exactly the way it sounds: bakit, hindi, opo, pagkain.....

The only mysterious aspect of this language is that it always gets 'spell checked' when written in a word document or email. But today I discovered the ancient script of the Philippines. There it is! Though it may not be as numerous or complex as Chinese or Japanese, all the same very cool.

I wanted to see how my name was written in Baybayin so first I had to translate it in Tagalog. Rachel which means "lamb or sheep" is tupa in Tagalog, and Joy would be "happy or happiness" which is ligaya. So my name would be:

Tupa


Ligaya

If you would like to know how your name or a word is written in Baybayin click on the sites below. It works best if the word is translated to Tagalog first then Baybayin. Hope you have as much fun as I did doing this!

Translate English to Tagalog here
Translate Tagalog to Baybayin here

To learn more about this ancient Filipino writing go here: Baybayin, The Ancient Script of the Philippines