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His older brother, 21-year-old Ramuel, is also enrolling at the University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio as a sophomore. He has drawn attention, too, because he has 20 first names.
Ramuel, a biology student, was named Ramuel Spirituel Mattathiah Obadiah Darius Desiderius Abner Macaire Nowell Asa Izzy Zoon Politikon Trigg Gruffydd Keen Kemp Knowles Bonifacio Makabayan A. San Juan.

Their oldest sister, Ramille Lewisse, 25, who operates a Web design consultancy firm in Metro Manila, is not to be outdone. She has shaped a career with a few people knowing she has 20 first names: Ramille Lewisse Marion To Kalon Zoe Vera Natalia Nadezna Zora Hosea Pro Patria Berenice Clotilda Currente Calamo Naomi Nahum Mehetabel A. San Juan.

The middle initial “A”—for Agustin—represents their mother’s surname.

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“My first child was born, but I was not happy when people in charge of her documents showed little imagination,” San Juan told the Inquirer by telephone from Urdaneta. “The form had a very short empty line where I was expected to fill out with my daughter’s name. I asked, ‘What if I decide to give my child a longer name?’ and got the reply, ‘You can’t do that.’”

“So I decided that I could do just that,” he said.

“My wife did have reservations as any level-headed, geometrically centered mathematics teacher would,” he said.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs found a way to list down the children’s complete names on their passports (the old green passport, where entries were handwritten), he said. It printed two of their given names on the passport’s inside front cover—and the rest of their names on the passport’s third page.

US visa

Acquiring a US visa was far easier, San Juan said. “The American Embassy employees simply asked the kids, who were very young at the time, to recite their names, and they did. Our papers were quickly processed.”

“My kids are used to that sideshow. When Ramuel was 6, he once confided in us that he was invited to the teachers’ lounge where he was asked to recite his name. He said they always laughed each time he succeeded,” he said.

The San Juan family stayed in Texas, where their children’s lengthy names did not matter, he said. The family returned to the Philippines in 2011.

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“In their original birth certificates, my first two kids’ given names (20 each) appear as ‘see attached’ (which refers to the three extra pages where the names were printed). The space provided in the official form wouldn’t suffice. In the case of my third kid, his given names (40 in all, plus a suffix) were typed in full on the top margin, overwriting the read-before-accomplishing portion,” San Juan wrote.
 
Family legacy

He said the NSO almost stopped him from registering Ratziel’s 40 names—until they were informed about two precedents.

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“Quite naturally, a man with a flair for style and a way with words like our father Rufino Jr., with the blessing of our mother, Remedios, would name their four sons Rufino Ray III, Rufino Ranulfo IV, Rufino Ramil V and Rufino Ronaldo VI,” he said.

Names for love

San Juan said he had since rationalized that his decision to provide his children their unique names “put a finishing touch to my father’s antics.”

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I Juander, unsaon kaha pagsuwat sa ilahang pangan sa papel? BAsin ang ginagmay ra maoy isuwat.

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murag dli naman pud ni maayo oi. what's in a name man gud pud nga ang mga bata man gyud ang magsuffer kay tiaw bay pagkataas nalang tawn sa ilang namessssssssss

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Well, he writes all the 41 names Juan at a time...

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