What is "magboo"

Magboo is a Filipino surname ( family name, last name) of Tagalog origin and means, in Tagalog, "creator, maker". Although infrequent, it is recognized by Filipinos as "Filipino" and is found most often in Batangas province, the center of the Tagalog dialect.

The history of a colonized country can often be seen in the indigenous people's surnames. For various reasons, mostly coming under the heading of "expedient", new governments and regimes have often added or markedly changed the surnames of the indigenous or targeted people. Thus, surnames can often belie origin especially for those living in another country or have families who have emigrated. For the present generation, a surname might produce an inaccurate analysis of the name holder's national/racial origins, or lead to legal/contractual problems. For later generations, it can present a broken link in searching for one's roots.

Many Filipinos, nationals now living in the Philippines and those whose families long ago emigrated to other countries and by now are citizens of those countries, have surnames taken from Spanish and Chinese. Some, as in the case of those whose last name is "Magboo", retain the original dialect name.