Mangatarem : "mangga tan tirem"

Mangatarem was founded as a barrio of San Carlos in 1827 by the Dominican missionaries. In 1835, eight years after, it was inaugurated as a town.

There were numerous anecdotes on how Mangatarem got its name, one of which was from the Pangasinan dialect : "Mangga tan tirem", a native viand which consist of green mango and fresh oyster with salt. In their quest for more converts the Dominicans who were already established at San Carlos travelled westward bringing with them native guides. At noon the Spaniards asked their guides what viand was available for lunch. The latter readily replied : "mangga tan tirem." The missionaries must have eaten they viand with much gusto or it must have been very common in the locality so that when the new settlement was created into a town "mangga tan tirem" was adopted as its name. For phonetical reason, however, "manggatantirem" was changed to Mangatarem. #