Why does the word Philippines start with Ph but Filipino start with F?

Search: why does the country phillipines start with ph

Why: My dad wants to know. I wonder what he is up to today.

Answer: Filipino is a Spanish word, after Las Islas Filipinas, named after King Phillip II of Spain. Spanish does not use the digraph "ph."

During the Spanish-American War (1898) and Philippine-American War (1898-1902), US colonial authorities just called the islands whatever the hell they wanted, which was Philippines - a translation of the Spanish. The United States held sovereignty over the islands until the end of WWII, during which "Philippines" was adopted as the official name.

Source: Yahoo! Answers

The More You Know: Some other country names and their origins:

• Argentina - from Latin argentum, "silver"
• Austria - from the Old High German word Ostarrîchi "eastern realm"
• Canada - a First Nations word kanata (or canada) ,"settlement or village" or "land"
• Cuba - from Taíno cubao, "where fertile land is abundant" or coabana as "great place" (coabana)
• Dominica - named by Christopher Columbus on the Sunday he spotted it, from Latin dominica, "Sunday"
  
• France - "Land of the Franks," from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, "javelin, lance" or from frank, "free"
• Guatemala - from the Maya-Toltec language, "land of the trees"
  
• Italy - through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning "land of young cattle"
• Jamaica - from Arawakan Xaymaca, "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs"
• Kenya - named after Mt. Kenya, which in various languages means "white mountain"
  
• Kosovo - "field of the birds" from the Turkish word Kuş, “bird” + Ova, “field or plain”
• Mozambique - from Musa Al Big or Mossa Al Bique or Mussa Ben Mbiki, an Arab trader who first visited the island and later lived there
• Nicaragua - the name of a local chief Nicarao + the Spanish word agua, "water"
• Poland - from Polish words either pole, "field," opole, "group of villages belonging to one clan," or plemię, "tribe"
• Tanzania - Tanganyika (from Swahili tanga, "sail" + nyika, "wilderness") + Zanzibar (from Arabic zanj, "black" + al bar, "land")