section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  During his 1542 expedition, Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos named the islands of Leyte and Samar " Felipinas " after the Prince of Asturias, later Philip II of Castile. Eventually, the name " Las Islas Filipinas " would be used for the archipelago's Spanish possessions.: 6 Other names, such as " Islas del Poniente " (Western Islands), " Islas del Oriente " (Eastern Islands), Ferdinand Magellan's name, and " San Lázaro " (Islands of St. Lazarus), were used by the Spanish to refer to islands in the region before Spanish rule was established.
  
  During the Philippine Revolution, the Malolos Congress proclaimed it the República Filipina (the Philippine Republic). American colonial authorities referred to the country as the Philippine Islands (a translation of the Spanish name). The United States began changing its nomenclature from "the Philippine Islands" to "the Philippines" in the Philippine Autonomy Act and the Jones Law. The official title "Republic of the Philippines" was included in the 1935 constitution as the name of the future independent state, and in all succeeding constitutional revisions.