Alleged, Reported, and/or Possible Sources of the Name of Bayambang Town

Alleged, Reported, and/or Possible Sources of the Name of Bayambang Town

Let's keep it simple and break things down this way:

1. Kulibangbang - current Pangasinan and Tagalog term for Piliostigma malabaricum, a bauhinia tree species with butterfly-shaped leaves (whose shoots are edible), little white flowers, and leguminous fruit -- not to be confused with other ornamental bauhinia species with colorful (pink, etc.) orchid-like flowers; reference: according to multiple old folks' account and at least one written folk tale online; possibility: questionable, because kulibangbang is an Ilocano word meaning butterfly, and the Ilocanos wouldn't arrive in Bayambang until around 1880s(?) whiile Bayambang was already Bayambang since 1741

2. Balangbang or Balangabang - another local term for the kulibangbang tree; reference: residents; possibility: moderate because of the l-y substitution

3. Balangbang - local term for waist; reference: provincial government website; possibility: questionable to possible

4. Bayang-bayang - local term for scarecrow; reference: Spanish missionary account? ; possibility: hmmm

5. Bayambang - name of a weed called celosia (Celosia or Deeringia polysperma) ; reference: Philippine botanical websites, old wikipedia entry on Bayambang's history; possibility: low to high

6. Bayambang, Bayabang, Bayangbang - Tagalog name of a fern called Nephrolepis cordifolia and other similar species; reference: Philippine botanical websites; possibility: low because it is a Tagalog term

7. Bayambang - old Pangasinan term meaning "madanom ya lugar," sapa, or catch basin; reference: Oscar Ora (resident) and at least someone from Calasiao; possibility: very high because the southern part of the town and those along the river are indeed madanom (water) and serve as catch basin

Note: A barangay in Infanta town of Pangasinan is named Bayambang as well. And it reportedly has a Bayambang National High School too! It would be instructive to know how they came up with that same name.

So, which do you think is the real root or source?