During the Spanish times a woman had continued use of her maiden name after marriage, or else merely appended her husband’s surname to her own, and the children assumed the hyphenated surname. Her husband may have built their house, the symbol of their conjugal state, but she was the maybahay, literally the owner of the house.
Source:
Alvina, C. & Sta. Maria, F. 1987. Essays on Philippine Culture.
