Ian Veneracion's kids and Brad Pitt

YES! Magazine, PEP
Sunday, December 9, 2007
10:43 AM

Filipino actor Ian Veneracion, action star, and Pamela Gallardo, a non-showbiz person, married in 1994. Four years later, Tristan Draco was born. Another two-and-a-half years after, Deirdre followed.

Daddy says he got the name Draco, a polar constellation, through the Internet. “Tapos napanood ko nun yung [then I watched] Dragon Heart. Ang pangalan ng dragon dun [the name of the dragon there was] Draco, which is named after the constellation, meaning dragon. Kaya ayun. [So that's why.]”

Then Pam thought Draco should have another name. “Para lang may choice daw siya kung gusto niya palitan [it's like she has a choice],” he smiles. “Pero ayoko sana. [But I didn't like it.] Gusto ko Draco lang. Sinama namin Tristan. Pangalan ni Brad Pitt sa [I liked Draco only. Tristan was included, that was the name of Brad Pitt's character in] Legends of the Fall.”

Of the name Deirdre, he has this to say: “Yung iba pino-pronounce ’yan as [the others pronounce it as] deer-drop, yung iba [the others] dee-dri, yung iba [others] dee-drey. Sa akin [to me it's] d-dri. Ayun [so there], optional!” he laughs.

“’Pag naghahanap ako ng baby names nagtitingin ako sa [To look for baby names, I looked at] movie credits. Yung mga [at the] characters; hindi yung tunay na pangalan [not the true names], ha? Usually kasi magaganda mga pangalan nila [they're usually nice names]. Magagaling kasi mag-isip ng mga pangalan, mga imbento, ang [they're really good at finding and creating names, the] directors.”