Comments on: What’s the deal with last names in Spain?

By: Gh

Gh — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 18:59:00 +0000

This is in mexico too(:

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:13:00 +0000

Most women I know that have done that don’t change their names at all.

By: Ashly

Ashly — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:05:00 +0000

So say you’re a non-spanish woman that marries a spanish man…does she just take the first last name as well?

By: roman v

roman v — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:06:00 +0000

I know why Spaniards have two surnames,it is really easy if you think about it,What`s the best way to identify a Jew?Judaism is transmitted thru the mother,so two surnames identify if your mother is Jewish or not.Very clever

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:29:00 +0000

Oooh, interesting. How biased of me; I hadn’t even considered homosexual marriages. Was it hard to decide which name to put first in the hyphened version, or does your husband have the same two, but with his first?

It’s a complicated issue, and someone’s name has to die off eventually or else we end up with names like “María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva”.

By: Robert Jamaar Powe-Fischetti

Robert Jamaar Powe-Fischetti — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:22:00 +0000

I don’t know of any women who have done the “de ‘husband’s last name,’”, but my female friends here (I live in Asturias) have told me that it is possible. It is probably rare because the paperwork to do anything in Spain is just unbearable!

This would also explain why it may have been more commonplace in olden days, as there weren’t funcionarios, paperwork, or computers!

I’m fortunate that I’m American and married to an Italian. As we are both men, I have double-barreled our last names together so that our kids carry both…of course if there are any daughters it will eventually get lost…unless they’re famous–foreign last names are automatically less common and more likely to survive fame!!!!

By: Luz

Luz — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:34:00 +0000

I am Spanish and in my whole life I have not seen that. Here you have your two surnames, from your mother or your father for all your life, doesnt matter you are a male or female, married or not. In addition now is impossible to know if you are married or not, only with the surnames, or ID like driver license, DNI (Spanish ID) or Passport. For example, Picasso the painter, it is his mother surname (grandfather), he was Pablo Ruiz Picasso. And last changes in law, you can choose exactly the two surnames and the order for your children, prefectly you could give them the two granmothers surnames… but it is not really usual.

By: Anw25

Anw25 — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:19:00 +0000

One more thing you missed:

Nowadays, under Equality of Genders Law, spanish children can be borned with their mother’s surname instead of their father’s, as it was tradition. Example:

Helena A_ E_ marry Antonio H_ T_, and they have children. Their children can be A_ H_ or H_ A_, that’s something Helena and Antonio have to discuss, reach a mutual agreement of which surname survives.

By: bawa

bawa — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:45:00 +0000

When I got married in the UK 25 years ago, we asked about how I could follow the Spanish custom of keeping my name. The legal answer was “There is no law in England that says a women has to take on her husband’s surname and give up her own: it is a matter of social convention that women change their surnames”
If you do want to change, you go around to the banks and stuff with your marriage certificate, and they will do it for you, but its entirely up to you.
Lastly, you might want to register the marriage with a Spanish Consulate if you want to get a Libro de Familia.

By: Erik R.

Erik R. — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:42:00 +0000

That’s entirely up to the woman getting married.