FAMILIA : ACFALLE

Acfalle is a native Chamorro name.  But what does it mean?

AC (or ak) is a form of a'a.  For example, åsson means "to lie down."  Someone who lies down a lot can be called a'asson.  But one can change that and say akson.  Same thing for anña, which is "to mistreat."  Someone who frequently mistreats others is a'anña, or akña.

The falle part is the Spanish way of spelling the Chamorro word fåye'.  It means "to be good in some skill."

But this is just a guess as to the meaning of Acfalle.  It may have nothing at all to do with the word fåye'.

 

So, if Acfalle is derived from a'afåye' (and that's a big if), what does a'afåye', or akfåye', mean?  It would mean "to be mutually good in some skill."

Malesso'

The heartland of the Acfalle name is Malesso'.

The biggest Acfalle family there was that of Jose Tedpahago* Acfalle, a Malesso' native, married to Tomasa de Leon Guerrero Cruz, daughter of a Hagåtña father who moved down to Malesso'.

They had many children; perhaps half of the Acfalles named in the 1897 Census are his descendants.

There were just a few Acfalles in Hågat and Tepungan (Piti) in 1897.  Now, of course, there are Acfalles everywhere.

 

***Tedpahago was sometimes spelled Tedpahogo.  In the church records, the same individual was sometimes Tedpahago, Tedpahogo, Tedpaogo.  It was not a literary world back then.  Reading and writing were not things most people did a lot.