Legend says that Lazi was named after the letter "C" because of its bay. But the bay of Maria that is more regular and deeper has a more pronounced C-shape and was therefore a better cadidate that Lazi for sucha a name.. the resemblance with a letter "c" this is not very convincing. The area corresponding to the twon was known as Tigbawan due to the preponderance of "tigbaw" trees growing abundantly in the area. Under that name, it was a "visita" of Siquijor tahat is administered by the priest in charge of the parish Siquijor.

The change from Tigbawan to Lazi can easily be answered. Whenever a pueblo (municipality) and a parish were created, the Spaniards oftentimes gave a new administration and religious unit. The town of Lazi was named in honor of the mother of a governor-general who stayed in Manila. During his incumbency as Governor, he has good relations with the church, the later honored by naming new parishes after him. In 1857, it was spelled Lacy, and then it was changed to Laci and subsequently to Lazi following the 19th century spelling of the Spanish language. Lazi has a population of 18,314 and a total land area of 8,461 hectares.