The Ilocano or Ilokano people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. Aside from being referred to as Ilocanos, from "i"-from, and "looc"-bay, they also refer to themselves as Samtoy, from the Ilocano phrase "sao mi ditoy", meaning 'our language here.' The word "Ilocano" came from the word "Iloco" or "Yloco." The Ilocano people are indigenous to coastal areas of northern Luzon in the Philippines. Today, the Ilocanos are the dominant ethnic group in northern Luzon, and their language (Ilocano) has become the lingua franca of the region, as Ilocano traders provide highland peoples with their primary link to the commerce of the outside world.

Many Ilocanos have left their homeland to settle elsewhere. The Ilocanos are the majority in the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, Apayao, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Pangasinan, and Tarlac. They form 15-45% of the populations of the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Aurora, Zambales, Benguet, Batanes, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province.

Further government-sponsored migrations have led to the resettlement of Ilocanos to Mindanao, particularly to the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat. Other important Ilocano communities exist in Metro Manila and the world over. Ilocanos number about 9,136,000.

The Ilocanos are primarily of Austronesian stock, like the rest of the Filipino people. Their homeland is the closest region in the Philippines to China. Many Ilocanos also have Spanish descent; others are city settlers with Indian and Arab blood.

A few Ilocanos living in the Cordilleras also have some Cordillerano blood. Ilocanos speak the Ilokano language (also called Iloko), which is part of the Northern Philippine subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian family of languages. They also speak Cebuano (in Mindanao), Tagalog, and English as second languages.

Most Ilocanos are Roman Catholics, while a significant number[quantify] belong to the Aglipayan Church, which originated in Ilocos Norte. Many Filipino-Americans are of Ilocano descent. They make up 85% of the Filipino-American population in Hawaii.

The Austronesian ancestors of the present-day Ilocanos came to the Philippines through bilogs, or outrigger boats during the Iron Age.

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