Due to lack of official and authenticated historical accounts pertaining to the origin of the town's name, the municipal government is only relying on folktales which were handed from prominent ancestors to their eager descendants. Folktales revealed that the town of Pinabacdao got its present name by the time when the Philippines was still under the Spanish colonial era; the provincial governor of Samar asked "Capitan" Doquerez (believed to be the founder and first mayor of Pinabacdao) as to what punishment he would impose to those who violated any rule or law. Doquerez insisted that he will not impose fines and imprisonment, instead they will be punished by asking them to ""bakdaw"" or stand on an ant colony. The Spanish governor was then amused and concluded that since the punishment or ""pena"" in Spanish language is to ""bakdaw"" or stand the town deserves to be called ""Pena-bakdaw"" "(respelled as Pinabacdao)".