Typically Spaniards have two surnames, while in many other countries such as the UK, Canada, the United States and Australia just have one. In fact, all Spanish speaking countries have this practice, with the exception of Argentina.
When Spaniards are born, they are assigned both their father’s and their mother’s first surnames, giving them two.
If they have children, they will pass on their first last name to them, so they will have two as well.
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Those who have lived in Spain a while will be fully aware of this, often because when filling out forms you need two last names. Often you will be forced to use your middle name as a last name or just put your last name twice.
If you’ve been living in Spain for ten years or two years for those from Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal or are of Sephardic origin, you might be thinking about applying for Spanish citizenship.
Your child may also become a Spanish citizen if they were born here and have lived here for the first year of their life.
One of the most common questions asked during this process is if you have to have two last names when you’re granted your new nationality.
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The simple answer is yes, Spanish law states that the Spanish nationalised person must be registered in the Spanish Civil Registry with one name and two surnames.
It states: “Said surnames must be reflected in the birth registration, first of the Father and then the Mother, even if they are a foreigner, as they result from the accompanied foreign birth certification”.
Like Spaniards, this will be your father’s and mother’s surnames. So for example, if your name is Claire Coleman and your mother’s maiden name is Fisher, you will become Claire Coleman Fisher.
There are, however, a couple of exceptions to this rule.
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If you don’t have any other parent on your birth certificate or other documents or if your relationship to your parents can’t be proved.
In those two cases, your surname will simply be doubled.
So if your name is Paul Murray, you’ll become Paul Murray Murray when you’ve been granted your Spanish citizenship, and this is the name that will appear on all official documents.
Although you can carry on using your name just with one surname, if you declare that you want to do so at the time.
The law says the following on this point: “Whoever acquires Spanish Nationality will keep their surnames in a manner other than the Legal one, provided that they declare this in the act of acquiring it, or within two months following the acquisition or coming of age”.
Most of the time it might be easier to use two last names for all those forms you'll likely have to fill now.
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