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In an English-speaking environment, Spanish-named people sometimes hyphenate their surnames to avoid Anglophone confusion or to fill in forms with only one space provided for the last name: [14] for example, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, is named "Ocasio-Cortez" because her parents' surnames are ...
Aug 23, 2010 · Curiosities: Why are so many Hispanic names hyphenated? The two surnames names are ancestral, with the father’s family name followed by the mother’s family name. In Colombia, for example, “Ernesto Escobar Vega” uses two surnames (“Escobar Vega ”) as his legal name, with “Escobar” coming from his father and “Vega” coming from ...
Sep 12, 2017 · This guide to Spanish naming customs includes a comprehensive explanation of how Spanish names work, clear answers to names-related questions, and some personal thoughts about the Spanish naming system.
- First/Given Names
- Surnames
- Married Names and Children’s Names
- Addressing Someone by Their Surname
In Spanish cultures, people either have one or two given names. For instance Juan or, like the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis. Note that, as mentioned above, Luis is not the Prime Minister’s middle name but part of a full, single, given name – José Luis.
In Spanish cultures, people traditionally have 2 surnames. The first is the paternal surname (apellido paterno), the father’s first surname, and the second is the maternal surname (apellido materno), the mother’s first surname. As you may have realised, this means that what we would call the mother’s maiden name, is passed down a further generation...
In Spanish culture, women do not change their name when married. What that means is that the mother, father and children in one family will all, generally, have different surnames. For instance: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is married to Sonsoles Espinosa Díaz (Espinosa is her paternal surname and Diaz is her maternal surname) and their children’s ...
When addressing someone by their surname in Spanish cultures, as a general rule you use their paternal surname. So, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would be known as Señor Rodriguez, not Señor Zapatero. Without trying to confuse you, it is important to note that dropping the paternal surname is not unusual when it is a very common one. This is the cas...
- Spanish given names. In Spanish cultures, people either have one or two given names — and frequently more than two. In Anglophone countries like the United States, most people have a middle name which is seldom used.
- Spanish surnames. In Spanish cultures, people traditionally have two surnames. The first is the paternal surname (apellido paterno) — the father’s first surname — and the second is the maternal surname (apellido materno) — the mother’s first surname.
- Married and family surnames in Spanish cultures. In most Spanish-language cultures, women do not change their last names when married. In searching for your female ancestors, therefore, make sure you’re looking for a wife under her maiden name.
- Which surname should you use to address someone in Spanish cultures? When addressing someone by their surname in Spanish cultures, as a general rule, you use their paternal surname.
Feb 10, 2022 · Children of Hispanic people living in countries that traditionally only have one last name tend to hyphenate their family names to avoid confusion. When a Hispanic person is referred to with a prefix, the name used after the prefix will probably be their paternal last name or their full family name.
Spanish people, and people from Spanish-speaking countries, normally have two surnames – their father's, followed by their mother's – although a movement to switch these around has started in recent years; mostly, they will be referred to purely by their first surname, except in an official setting.
