General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I wish women in the U.S. automatically kept their last names when they marry [View all]Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)Here's an American living in Spain, explaining the Spanish naming system to other Americans. He's wrong in some things he says. For example, he says people don't have middle names in Spain, while they certainly do. Also, he clearly hates the whole naming system over there, and makes it clear that he's not fond of 'feminists,' but at least it provides a basic explanation of how it works:
...There are four basic rules to surname inheritance in Spain:
Everyone has two last names.
Your first last name is your fathers first last name.
Your second last name is your mothers first last name.
Women do not change their last names when they get married.
Thats it. Thats the whole system. To Spaniards, the fact that women in some countries change their last names when they marry seems like a loss of identity. How can you just give up who you are like that?, they say.
Occasionally, they will play the feminist card and claim that giving children only their fathers surname is chauvinistic and that the Spanish system isnt because it values the surname of the mother, but if you look closely, the Spanish system is only valuing the mothers fathers surname. The truth is that womens surnames do get lost in Spain, it just takes another generation to do so...
http://erikras.com/2009/01/28/whats-the-deal-with-last-names-in-spain/