The Jhemerlyn Project

Names are more fun in the Philippines


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Some Members of the Catholic Women's League

The Catholic Women's League (CWL) was founded by Margaret Fletcher in 1906. Since then, it has grown beyond its native country of England, with chapters in North America and the Asia-Pacific. In the Philippines, the Federacion Católica de Mujeres Filipinas was founded in 1919; it adopted its current name in 1928. The main activities of CWL Philippines are:

“Spiritual formation/evangelization; outreach programs for the families addressing the priority issues and concerns affecting the family; partnership, sisterhood and linkages with other church organizations, GO's and NGO's; effective Christian leadership and discipleship and governance.” (Source: Sangguniang Laiko ng Pilipinas, specific page archived here)

Catholic women aged 21 and above may join. There's also a Junior CWL for those aged 10-20.

The membership lists below are small and each is from a different diocese, so it's hard to draw firm conclusions about name trends from them. But they do come with birth dates for most of the members, which gives us a potential starting point for theories. All lists are publicly available on Scribd.

CWL Chapter A
Decade of Birth Member + Year of Birth
1920s
  • Urbana (1925)
1930s
  • Jovita (1931)
  • Veronica (1932)
  • Virginia (1934)
  • Genara (1935)
1940s
  • Natividad, Reynalda (1947)
  • Norma (1949)
1950s
  • Esther (1950)
  • Angeline (1951)
  • Emilia (1952)
  • Elenita, Excelina, Luisa (1953)
  • Nenita, Phobe (1954)
  • Emerita (1955)
  • Florentina (1959)
1960s
  • Loida (1962)
  • Miriam (1963)

The following members had no given birth years: Concordia, Irene, Leonora, Rizalina, and Virginia (yes, another one).

CWL Chapter B
Decade of Birth Member + Year of Birth
1930s
  • Lolita (1935)
  • Catalina, Evangeline (1939)
1940s
  • Benedicta (1943)
  • Felisa (1946)
  • Salvacion (1948)
  • Francia, Jeorgena, Rosalina (1949)
1950s
  • Leonor (1950)
  • Lydia (1951)
  • Angelita, Bernardita, Leticia (1952)
  • Dolores, Evelyn, Maria (1953)
  • Erlinda, Jovelyn, Melinda, Yolanda (1955)
  • Violeta (1956)
  • Zoraida (1957)
  • Lilibeth, Marilou (1959)
1960s
  • Rosalina (1960)
  • Estrellita, Meriam (1962)
  • Leonisa, Visitacion (1963)
  • Melanie (1965)
  • Susan (1967)
  • Merfy (1968)
1970s
  • Imelda, Marigen (1970)
  • Edna (1971)
  • Avelina (1972)
  • Lourdes (1975)
  • Francia (1976)
  • Heschelle (1977)
  • Mercy (1979)
1980s
  • Leah (1981)
  • Hazel (1982)

A member named Adelina had no given birth year.