Names from Tagalog Wattpad Stories
Filipinos love Wattpad.
In 2014, the Philippine Star reported that seven million Filipinos visited Wattpad every month. Back then, the country accounted for 23% of the site's annual traffic and its second biggest market behind only the United States. Of the eight writers followed by more than a hundred thousand people, five were Filipino, with the most popular being HaveYouSeenThisGirl with over 225,000 followers. She has since been succeeded by Jonaxx - the first Filipino to have a verified Wattpad account, the first Fiipino to have a million Wattpad followers, and the most followed writer on Wattpad, period, surpassing Anna Todd of After fame. The orange app has spelled success for a fair number of my other compatriots, with their books becoming bestsellers and being adapted into movies and series. In general, their work isn't really my style - for starters, I prefer to read in English - but I don't begrudge them. Writing is hard and they make people happy with it.
I'm just more interested in the names of their characters than their plots.
The individual authors may have different tastes, but taken together, there's...something about their naming style. It's not just the Spanish (or Chinese, or native) surnames, either. Since I can't describe exactly what it is, I'll just list them all here. And before anyone asks...
Yes.
They really are named that.
Possessive Series
Author: CeCeLib
Number of Books: 26
Erotic romance novels with black-and-white photos of abs on the covers. Need I say more?
The men (who, presumably, possess the aforementioned abs) are listed first, followed by the women; each pair is listed according to the book that they appear in.
- Tyron Zapanta / Raine Lynn Dizon
- Iuhence Vergara / Mhelanie Tschauder
- Train Wolkzbin / Krisz Romero
- Lander Storm / Vienna Sugon
- Calyx Vargaz / Etheyl Vallega
- Dark Montero / Anniza Gonzales
- Ymar Stroam / Czarina Salem
- Shun Kim / Themarie Alfonso
- Lash Coleman / Nez Fernandez
- Lath Coleman / Haze Tito
- Valerian Volkzki / Grace Oquendo
- Cali Sudalga / Annette Roan
- Evren Yilmaz / Faith Gabriel
- Lysander Callahan / Jergen Carbonell Camince
- Phoenix Martinez / Rhoana Elyzabeth Dadaria
- Titus Morgan / Macezequeen Castolina
- Hunt Baltazar / Tessmarie de Leon
- Pierce Rios Muller / Gladz Valdeleon
- Beckett Furrer / Ruth Pascua
- Andrius Salazar / Ivy Gonzaga
- Knight Velasquez / Sweet Monday Lopez
- Khairro Stanford / Eliza Velasquez
- Thorn Calderon / Cassia Wisper
- Ream Oliveros / Dinsyl Descartin-Davidson
- Reigo Vasquez / Zehannah Sevil
NOTES:
- Only the synopsis of Book 26 has been posted, so we have the name of the male lead (Terron Dashwood) but not the female lead.
- Some of the men and women are partly foreign, which is par for the course for this genre.
University Series
Author: 4euminct
Number of Books: 5
Romance novels where the leads are university students in the greater Manila area, more properly called the NCR. The schools in question (all real) are perhaps the local equivalent of the Ivy League.
- Kalix Jace Martinez / Louisse Natasha Valeria
- Akihiro Leonel Juarez / Ashianna Kim Fernandez
- Sebastian Vincent Camero / Amora Elyse Ledesma
- Clyden Jaile Ramirez / Samantha Maureen Vera
- Larkin Olivier Sanchez / Avianna Rye Diaz
Seniors Series
Author: alluringli
Number of Books: 5
Teen romance novels where the leads are in Grades 11-12 at the (fictional) University of St. Joan of Arc. This time, I'm going to list the girls first because...why not?
- Zafirah Sidney Sanchez / Sarathiel Zyler Aracosa
- Arrisea Cabrera / Adonis Renoir Reverio
- Philomena Gracia Valderama / Iscalade Jance Altreano
- Pauletta Jayne Angeles / Giorgion San Pedro
- Solstice Lavender Reverio/ Etienne Nealcail Soteiro
Teen Clash
Author: iDangs
Number of Books: 2
Enemies-to-lovers teen romance by the looks of it. Features four couples.
- Ivan Charles Ethan Scott / Zoe Davis
- Alexander Evans / Yannie Seung
- Josh Alonzo / Sabrina Fortalejo
- Kenneth Yu / Ayumi Kahn
NOTE:
- There go the foreign surnames again.