FAMILY NICKNAMES : PÉPERO

A Korean snack brand known as Pepero.

A branch of the Dueñas family on Guam, and some Sablans from Saipan, are better known as familian Pépero.

The interesting thing about the nickname Pépero is that the sound of it is Spanish, not indigenous Chamorro, but, as far as I can tell from searching, the word has no meaning in Spanish or even in slang, whether from Spain or a former Spanish colony. There is also no surname Pépero among Spaniards. So....where did Pépero come from?

From a Guam funeral announcement. The deceased was a member of the Pépero clan, among others.

Some indications that Pépero is not an indigenous word is the use of the letter R. Typically, in Chamorro we avoid the R sound and often replace it with L. Guitarra becomes gitåla; cigarro becomes chigålo.

It's also not typical that an indigenous word of three syllables stresses the first of the three syllables. It does happen, but not often.

A Saipan funeral announcement. There, Pépero refers to some Sablans.

There are many possible origins of the nickname Pépero. There might be a connection with the nickname Pepe for José. It might come from some slang word that has long been forgotten or which was once in use by a small group of people from Latin America or the Philippines. One day we may find the answer in some obscure, old book hiding in some dark corner of a library somewhere.

The family itself might have some oral legend about the name. But, until then, we do not know what it means or why it became a nickname for some families among us.