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@cendawanita Ooh, what's the meme about? I haven't seen it, now I'm curious. LOL.

But yeah, Filipino names are generally confusing for everyone else. It changed a lot and developed its own “rules”, LOLs.

If you ask a Filipino what their “middle name” is, they'll tell you their “mother's paternal family name”. It gets more confusing when it's a married woman since they can choose to change their name into:

(note: “y” just using as a marker to separate the two family names)

“unmarried paternal family name” y “married husband's paternal family name”

Using the example from the OP, that is:

* “Makiling” y “Cohen”

Suddenly they no longer carry their “mother's paternal family name”

However, in other countries, a “middle name” refers to the name that is in the middle of the “first name” and “family name”.

And likewise, we Filipinos, if you tell us your “middle name”, we understand it as your ”mother's paternal family name”.