What is "buenvenida"

Buenvenida surname is a variation of the Spanish word bienvenida feminine form of bienvenido, which literally means "welcome". the family name have been adopted by locals in the Philippines. Catálogo alfabético de apellidos a document of surnames published in the Philippines and other islands of Spanish East Indies in the mid-19th century. This was in response to a Spanish colonial decree establishing the distribution of Spanish family names among the inhabitants of the Philippines who did not already have a surname.

Spanish Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa issued a decree on November 21, 1849. Following the Christianisation of the Philippines, many Filipinos chose surnames. The surname is very common in the Province of Capiz, in the Island of Panay. Specifically, the town of "Pan-ay" which the island derives its name from was the second Spanish settlement in the Philippines when conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legaspi left Cebu for Manila. He settled in the banks of the Pan-ay river and built a pueblo. Consequent to the Christianization surnames of the local were changed adapting Spanish surnames. Intermarriage between the Spaniards and locals brought for a new class of local meztizos, thus the Buenvenida family is as old as the town itself. In fact several notable members of the clan became an alcalde of the pueblo and till now the many Buenvenida still lives in the old town.