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spanishskulduggery · 6 years

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Can you explain Spanish (from Spain) naming structure? Women typically don't take the man's name, correct? Why are the names so long? Where are they all pulled from? And does the daughter contribute her father's last name to the children? Thank you.

This is going to be a long one and pretty confusing, and I’m sure I’ll get something wrong so if anyone sees a big mistake, or they want to add something, or if some native speakers want to share their insight / share how they deal with their surnames, please comment or let me know.

I also believe that some of this depends on the exact country, and some of it depends on personal preference and can be different for legal settings. It’s going to be confusing but I’ll try to be as clear as possible.

P.S. Unless otherwise stated, all names I’m using are example names and not real people.

So first it depends on the given name. The given name in Spanish-speaking culture is different from English-speaking culture. In the US, we typically have First Name, Optional Middle Name, Last Name.

So you might have the name “John Michael Smith”: John is the first name, Michael is the middle name and will rarely be mentioned except on forms or when one of his parents is yelling at him, and then surname. For all intents and purposes he’s either “John Smith” or possibly “John M. Smith”. Or if he grows up to be a serial killer they’ll call him “John Michael Smith” so that other innocent John Smiths aren’t harassed like they’re related.

I’ll give some quick examples and then below I’m going to explain it a bit more in depth, but this is my overall understanding of how it usually works.

For Spanish-speaking culture it’s usually: First Name + Additional (optional) First Name + Father’s Surname + Mother’s Surname

Jorge Federico Blanco Díaz.

Jorge Federico = first names

Blanco = father’s (first) surname

Díaz = mother’s (first) surname

Might possibly go as Jorge Blanco for short.

For women it’s the same as above: First Name + Additional (optional) First Name + Father’s Surname + Mother’s Surname… and then + de Husband’s First Surname

Lucía Magdalena Montoya Rojas

Lucía Magdalena = first names

Montoya = father’s (first) surname

Rojas = mother’s (first) surname

Might possibly go as Lucía Montoya for short

Assume she gets married to Jorge up above, it would probably read as:

Lucía Magdalena Montoya Rojas (de Blanco)It would probably remain unchangedde Blanco meaning “(wife) of (Jorge) Blanco”… where she’d take his first surname with a de ; it’s antiquated in some places, more on that below

Now say they have a child, it would most likely read as:

Isabel Diana Blanco MontoyaShe might go as Isabel Blanco for short.

So now for more in depth.

In some cases, people have just one name, in some cases people have two. In the colonial period you sometimes had 3 first names, but today it’s normally 1 or 2.

Someone might go by just one first name; and in US-Latino culture that “second first name” would be considered a middle name for forms/diplomas/licenses etc, though the Latino side would consider both first names to be part of the true full name.

For most Spanish-speaking countries, it’s a matter of preference if you use all the first names, or just one, or a nickname. Someone’s full first name might be José Pedro but they might go by José, or Pedro, or possibly they go by a nickname like Pepe or Pepito which are diminutives of José. It really depends.

This is true of English names too. Someone might go by their middle name because the family used the middle name, or they go by a nickname but have an official long name.

Women in particular sometimes have 2 names combined into one. For example, a woman’s name might be María… or it might be María Teresa. In some places, the name becomes Maite which is a mix of both names. This is common for names like Marisol [María Soledad], Maricarmen, Maricruz, Marisa [María Luisa], Maribel [María Isabel], etc.

I knew someone who went by Marilola or Lola because her full name was María Dolores.

Men can also have two names. I think the most common one I can think of is Juan Pablo, but there are others. I believe Antonio Banderas’s full name is José Antonio Domínguez Bandera, with his last names being Domínguez Bandera. Juan Carlos is another very common one.

It’s more common now to have just 1 name, but these kinds of naming traditions do exist in English too with names like “Marybeth”, “Mary Jo”, “Mary Jane”, “Anne Marie”, “Mary Ann / Marianne”, “Marilyn” etc.

As far as taking the last name, that depends on the country. In Spain, women typically do keep their maiden name after marriage. I think a lot of countries keep the maiden name at least in some regards.

That isn’t to say that women don’t take the name at all. They sometimes tack it on on the end with a de. That’s pretty common in a lot of Spanish-speaking countries.

But before I explain that, let me talk about surnames in general.

In many Spanish-speaking countries you typically have two last names. The first is your father’s main surname, the second is your mother’s main surname.

So bear with me this might be confusing; these are all made up people:

Juan Pablo Martínez López = his first names are Juan Pablo, his father’s main surname was Martínez, his mother’s first surname was López

María Teresa Puentes Lara = her first names are María Teresa, her father’s main surname was Puentes, her mother’s first surname was Lara

So say Juan Pablo and María Teresa get married.

Her name could become María Teresa Puentes Lara (de Martínez)

This implies that her maiden name was Puentes Lara, but she married someone whose surname started with Martínez, and that she was “accepted” into the Martínez family.

[EDIT: This de + husband’s surname is not always in fashion now. In Spain it’s no longer a thing. I’m including it in case it historically applies, or in case other countries do it still.]

She might also go by María Teresa Puentes (de Martínez)

Now let’s say they have a child:

Sofía Luisa Martínez Puentes

Her first names are Sofía Luisa. Her father’s first surname was Martínez, her mother’s first surname was Puentes.

The names López and Lara came from Sofía Luisa’s paternal and maternal grandmothers; they are dropped.

The paternal surname is written first and it is always [traditionally*] given priority.

*There are places where the mother’s surname goes first. I don’t know why, but I think I remember reading that at one point in the past for people entering the US, sometimes people ended up with the mother’s surname (which was all the way at the end) being used first.

That’s probably because in the US and in English-speaking culture, the name at the very end is the true surname. So if your name is Roberto Mendoza Zamora, you might think of Mendoza as your true surname, but an English-speaker would think it should be Zamora… so then you become Roberto Zamora instead.

But again, there are places and times that you’d pick the mother’s name first. Traditionally, the father’s name is first though.

Now say Sofía Luisa decides to get married and the paternal surname of her husband is Carreras. Her name could become Sofía Luisa Martínez Puentes de Carreras

…or possibly Sofía Luisa Martínez de Carreras, or maybe she just goes by Sofía Martínez de Carreras.

For the sake of simplification in a lot of places, particularly legally, people might go by the US naming system, where it would be the first name (or first names) and then one surname.

So if Sofía Luisa was getting tired of having to refer to her long name she might just go by Sofía Luisa Martínez (de Carreras).

That’s why you might frequently come across two married people that don’t share the same last name… say José Delgado and Lydia Villalobos. Their full names might be much longer, but for the sake of simplicity and writing checks etc they might just go by two names.

People who have two first names frequently go by just one, or a nickname. I know someone whose first names are José Alejandro + his surname… but he goes by Alex + his surname for the sake of simplicity.

As far as I know, married women in Latin America would still be addressed as Señora + her maiden name. I’m not totally sure. I know in US-Latino households, women might take their husband’s name officially but privately still use their own maiden names… just to go along with US naming practices.

So say it’s José Delgado and Lydia Villalobos. In her own life, Lydia might go by Villalobos… but to go along she might go by “Mrs. Delgado”

It really depends because in the US you go by the very last surname. In Latin America, you go by the paternal surname.

There was one case - and I don’t know the details of the case or his actual name so I’ll be making the name up - where his name was maybe something like Enrique Francisco Esparza Hernández.

As far as he was concerned, he always went by Enrique Esparza. The courts would refer to him as “Mr. Hernández”

But particularly in the US, to get the point across that it’s two separate surnames, people now use hyphens a lot.

The most ready example is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That means her father’s main surname was Ocasio, her mother’s maiden name was Cortez.

Again, take the example Lydia Villalobos. She might go by the name Lydia Delgado-Villalobos or Mrs. Delgado-Villalobos with the hyphen to make it very clear it’s a mix of two surnames.

The use of hyphens is multi-faceted because sometimes it’s done so that no one loses the mother’s surname as generations go on, sometimes it’s a same sex couple and they’re trying to preserve both surnames rather than one person choose the other’s surname… It could be a lot of things.

And while it is common to go with the father’s surname, there are times and situations where someone would go by the mother’s surname, or possibly both the mother’s surnames.

Side Note: There are some surnames that use de as a geographic marker, not specifically to say someone is married to someone.

So say you have someone names Ana María de la Torre. The surname de la Torre has nothing to do with a marriage.

Now say her full name is something like Ana María de la Torre y de la Serna. It means her father’s surname was de la Torre, her mother’s was de la Serna.

I don’t really know what the policy would be if she married someone with another de. Like maybe she marries someone with the last name “de la Cruz” and then you get a huge mouthful.

This is most likely why people sometimes have their geographic surnames as all one word, like I’ve seen “de Angelo / DeAngelo” or maybe something like “del Monte / Delmonte”. It’s usually for convenience sake, but not unlike O’, Mc/Mac, or other names beginning with De or Di.

You rarely need to worry about it THIS much. The people that have to worry about it are nobles and people with heraldic titles, but they usually have people they consult with on how the name goes officially. A noble might also receive an education that involves heraldry or naming etiquette.

People rarely use all their surnames unless you’re talking inheritance and titles, aka you were specifically going out of your way to show off to people. For everyone else, two surnames is enough, and sometimes they cut it down to just one to make their lives easier.

Full names of the nobility are long specifically because it involves titles and inheritance and lineage; conventions necessary when it comes to inheriting titles and estates, and especially in previous centuries, served as a kind of pedigree for potential suitors.

Commoners rarely had the same naming conventions. If they had official surnames at all, it was rarely as involved as a noble’s full name. It was also somewhat common in past centuries for people to take on geographic-related surnames, or sometimes names related to a specific city.

Also be aware that sometimes married women will keep just one surname + their spouse’s name.

Victoria Silva Loureiro

Now say she marries someone with the last name Iglesias. Her name might turn into…

Victoria Silva de Iglesias

For short, rather than keeping the secondary surname too.

If she did want to preserve it, she might go by “Victoria Silva-Loureiro de Iglesias”

It’s kind of a matter of personal preference and functionality.

EDIT: The native speakers have told me that the use of de + (husband’s surname) is not common in Spain anymore, and that the woman retains her last names regardless. Not sure if it works the same in all Spanish-speaking countries/regions

Again there are probably things I’ve gotten wrong, and things I’ve overlooked or misunderstood. So take everything I say here with a grain of salt.

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