Though Alibata is the more common term, “Baybayin” is its proper name. The Alibata term was introduced in the early 1900s by Dean Paul Versoza of the University of Manila, it originated from the first two letters of the alphabet of the Maguindanao, used in the southern Philippines and derived from Arabic. (The term is associated with the first two letters, alif and bet.) It is called baybayin, which means “to spell” in Tagalog.