People often know four of their family names as each Spanish parent has two surnames. It was once a historical point of honour to be able to trace back multiple generations of names to prove one's ethnic purity.
In Spain and Spanish American countries, except Argentina, each person has two surnames. Traditionally, the first surname is paternal and comes from the father, while the second surname is maternal and comes from the mother.
Mexican names follow Spanish naming customs: [personal name(s)] [father's paternal family name] [mother's paternal family name]. For example, Hector GONZÁLEZ LÓPEZ (male) and Camila GUTIERREZ GARCIA (female). The 'personal name' (or 'given name') is chosen at birth as the individual's personal identifier.
Mexicans have a personal name(s) followed by two surnames - the father's paternal family name and then the mother's paternal family name. For example: Hector Marίa GONZALEZ LÓPEZ.
The two surnames refer to each of the parental families. Traditionally, a person's first surname is the father's first surname (apellido paterno), while their second surname is the mother's first surname (apellido materno).
What happens to your surnames when you marry? Nothing. Your name does not change. In Spain, the tradition of women adopting their husband's family name does not exist, and it is a custom I (and most Spanish women would agree) find weird and do not understand.
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 his mother.
In Spain, it's common for many surnames to end in “ez,” such as Rodriguez, Martinez, and Hernandez. This suffix has its roots in the Latin suffix “-icius” or “-itius,” which was used to denote a “son of” or “descendant of“. Over time, the suffix evolved into the “ez” ending that we see today in many of our surnames.
The two surnames may be connected by the letter "y" which means "and." For example, Juan Gomez y Conde has Juan as a first name, Gomez as the surname of the father, and Conde as the surname of the mother.
Most Colombian names follow the Spanish naming convention. This is a personal name(s) followed by the father's paternal family name and then the mother's paternal family name, e.g. Jesús Marίa GONZALEZ LÓPEZ.
Surnames. 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.
Spanish surnames are often impressively long. That is because a child is given the surnames of both parents at birth. The first surname is that of the father, the second of the mother.
To sum up, Hispanics have dos nombres (two names) and dos apellidos (two surnames). Sometimes, Hispanics have only a first name because the middle name is not obligatory. Also, it can happen that a dad did not admit paternity of a child. In this case, such a child would carry the mother's last name only.
Falso, most Spanish-speaking people have TWO last names. Hispanic last names generally consist of the paternal last name followed by the maternal last name. It is common to see de or y used in a Hispanic last name.
Spaniards have a personal name(s) followed by two surnames – the father's paternal family name and then the mother's paternal family name. For example: Hector Marίa GONZALEZ LÓPEZ. People may have two personal names (e.g. Hector Marίa). The second personal name does not always reflect the gender of the person.
The last name of the Spanish royal family is Borbón, which comes from the House of Bourbon (or Borbón), a European dynasty with French origins. Nowadays, the Borbóns are the only surviving house of royals in Spain, and its current representative on the throne is King Juan Carlos I.
The personal a is used in Spanish before direct objects. The personal a is generally used when the direct object is a person, or an animal or thing that is thought of as a having personal qualities. Although in other contexts a is the equivalent of the English "to," the personal a is usually not translated to English.
Syntactically, in Spanish, don and doña are used in a way similar to "mister" (señor) and "missus" (señora), but convey a higher degree of reverence, although not necessarily as high as knightly or noble titles such as lord and dame.
Generally, there are no set rules or etiquette when it comes to deciding exactly how your hyphenated last name will read. You can go the "traditional" route and list your "maiden" name first, or you could choose to list your new last name first, followed by your original last name.
You may wonder why people from Spanish speaking countries have such long names. This is because we have usually two family names (surnames), when not more. Following an ancient tradition, when a child is born, he/she receives the first surname from the father and the second surname is the first surname of the mother.
Within the African-American community, the research showed that many couples had a discussion before marriage to decide if they would choose to hyphenate or even create an entire new last name. Many chose to hyphenate because they wanted to carry on their family's legacy.