fionamw

I have to confess I've always been and remain mystified by surnames/family names etc. & I'm hoping I'm not the only one who'd welcome a brief seminar!

Maria the daughter of Jose & his wife Patricia marries Alvaro the son of Juan and his wife Paula and they have a son and a daughter who in turn marry, have son, daughter, etc. ......

Could somebody who understands please insert some surnames/family names & explain to me who's called what & why & how it follows through the generations?

cricketman

"Maria the daughter of Jose & his wife Patricia marries Alvaro the son of Juan and his wife Paula and they have a son and a daughter who in turn marry, have son, daughter, etc. ...... "

If father of the daughter = Jose Garcia Alvarez
If mother of the daughter = Patricia Gonzalez Puig
Then Maria the daughter will be called = Maria Garcia Gonzalez

If father of the son = Juan Mendez Perez
If mother of the son = Paula Rodriguez Prats
Then Alvaro the son will be called Alvaro Mendez Rodriguez

When Maria and Alvaro marry their names stay the same, if they have a baby called Alicia, then her name will be = Alicia Mendez Garcia

The children always take the first apellido from their father and their second from their mother. Spanish people do not change their surnames when they marry.

If there are good family records a Spanish person can keep adding surnames i.e. those of their grandparents, great grandparents etc - my OH knows her first 12 or so. You'll never be asked for this info by anyone though!

Fortaleza

It is straightforward following the traditional model.

If Juan Perez marries Julia Carro, they are collectively 'Los Senores Perez' or 'La familia Perez', but Julia never loses her surname and she is always known as Julia Carro but instead of being referred to Senorita Carro she becomes Senora Carro.

They give birth to Juanito. He is then given firstly his fathers surname then his mothers.

So he is Juanito Perez Carro. After 20 years he marries Ana Dominguez Rodriguez. They give birth to Clara.

Clara becomes Clara Perez Dominguez.

Some Spaniards argue theirs is a fairer system than ours as the mother always carries on her family name. Yet as you can see from the example, the fathers name is never lost through the generations but eventually the womans name will go as Granny Carro in this example does not have her name featured in her grandkids.

There is a current vogue for mothers to inisist that their child carries their surname first which may confuse things but the overwhelming majority follow the traditional model

Mitzyboy

My neighbour is called Jose Iglasias Iglasias

Fred James

We know a guy called Kam-Lung Jorge Wu Aragon known as Willy.

JLFS

[QUOTE=Mitzyboy;8104546]My neighbour is called Jose Iglasias Iglasias [/QUO

The best name is Dolores Fuertes de la Barriga.....................

Veleta

[QUOTE=JLFS;8104880]OMG!


Some names sound really naff when they are translated.....

Tony Flags - how UNsexy!!
Julian Churches
Henry Churches
Penelope Cross (well, that one doesn't sound too naff).
Peace Lowlands

Relampago

I believe that Spain is the only country of the world, or maybe one of the few countries of the world, where the married woman continuous conserving its last name of unmarried

Mitzyboy

and I think its a good idea. Why should a woman have to lose her real name when marrying

scampicat

So, if two people from the same family have the same surname, they are not husband and wife but siblings.

There is a business down our way which has the name inscribed on the lorry :
Rodrigo Rodriguez Rodriguez.

Our first Dr was Dr Gomez Gomez.

JLFS

Thats rights, when my wife and I go to a hotel, the receptionist thinks that there is a bit of incest going on...........

scampicat

The lady from the builder's yard in our village happened to notice that my husband and I had the same name. She queried it; I explained how it was done in England. She was HORRIFIED! She could not believe I would give my name up so easily.

Every time I see her now, she makes (jokingly) all sorts of Women's Lib remarks!

Fortaleza

Ahhhh, but it gets diluted eventually. For example, Mrs F has no mention of her maternal grandmother's name, and if we were to have children her mother's name would disappear too. Yet her father's family name remains intact

agoreira

Doesn't have to, she could have a double barrelled name. I understand these are becoming common amongst same sex marriages to indicate that both are equal.

Veleta

She doesn't even HAVE to have a double barrelled name.

Lots of women, particularly professional women, don't change their surname at all upon marrying. My sister didn't, although she does get very annoyed when people assume that she has the same surname as her husband and call her Mrs X instead of Mrs Y.