Why the Spanish, unlike the inhabitants of other countries, have two surnames

Surely you have asked yourself more than once when shaking hands with a German or an Englishman or perhaps while watching a Hollywood movie and looking at the names of its protagonists: Why do they have a last name and we both? Why, for example, Bill Gates his name is that and not Bill Gates Maxwell, adding his mother’s name? And why, if you have to fill out an official form in the US, is it most likely that you have to compress your two surnames into a single box?

In summary: Why are we “weirdos” of genealogy? In other neighboring countries, newborns have traditionally received a single surname —the father’s, almost always. The guideline has been relaxed throughout the last few years, true; but often changing the dynamic requires the parents to choose directly. Without going any further, in France changes were applied in 2022.

The history of why we have the last name as we do forces us to take a considerable leap in time, five centuries, to the time of the Cardinal Cisneros. To him we owe the first attempt to bring some order where until then chaos and arbitrariness basically reigned, that we have gone from a messy soup of names to what we understand today as surnames.

Objective: put some order

Until the beginning of the 16th century, it was customary for each person to carry a first name and a genitive, a tagline almost almost as a nickname that it was related to her place of origin or family and that basically served to identify her. Although it is true that this made sense, it also gave rise to some circumstances that today would seem crazy to us and, above all, made the administration difficult. devilishly complicated. A clear example: Did two brothers who were born in different cities have the same last name? Maybe yes. Maybe not.

To throw some order into this chaos, at the beginning of the 16th century the powerful, influential and above all methodical and orderly Cardinal Cisneros decided to take action on the matter: each person would receive your father’s last name. Mandatory, no options. The measure was instituted in 1501 and it served as the first step so that today you share last names with your parents and siblings.

Little by little and already in the 16th century the use of the double surname It was permeating among the upper class of Castilla, of good lineage and who refused to see how one of their two family ‘brands’ vanished. Over time he ended up filtering through the rest of the country’s population. “The Administration realizes that it is much easier to control us with the double surname system”, commented recently Antonio Alfarothe president of the Hispanic Genealogy Association (Hispagen), on laSexta.

In the 1830s, the double surname was already a common practice, although not yet regulated. For its adoption to begin to be institutionalized, it would take several decades, in the mid-19th century, when it was first included in the official record. However, it took a little longer for it to become the norm: it did not come until the Civil Registry of 1871.

Its application by law was definitively confirmed two decades later, with the Civil Code of 1889. That text included in its article 114 that children have the right to both surnames, that of the father and the mother. Similar practice is found in other latitudes, such as Spanish speaking countries.

Was that the end of the story?

no years ago a legal change It allowed breaking what had been the pattern for centuries and allowing parents to choose the order of the surnames, without the father’s appearing first by default. Modifications, in any case, They are not exclusive to Spain.

Throughout the last few years in Italy either FranceFor example, steps have also been taken so that the offspring can incorporate their two last names. In France even [se impulsó un movimiento](Mon nom porte), Mon nom porte, created so that newborns receive both automatically. On the other side of the Pyrenees they actually succeeded in from July 2022 make it easier to change your last name. There are all kinds of cases. In Sweden, in the absence of an agreement, the opposite happens: exclusive cousin of the mother.

A derailleur chain that explain that today we call ourselves what we call ourselves.

And that officials don’t have to pull their hair out over name confusion.

Image: Jez Timms (Unsplash)

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