The Curious Case of iberian surnames custom

[Tooting Carmen]

I remember when I arrived at San Jose Airport in Costa Rica, a British couple behind me were bewildered as to why their landing form asked for multiple surnames but only one first name, and I turned round to explain to them that that was the Spanish-language custom.

[Petalpusher]

3-4 namers is a meme in racing

[mitalit]

I remember when I arrived at San Jose Airport in Costa Rica, a British couple behind me were bewildered as to why their landing form asked for multiple surnames but only one first name, and I turned round to explain to them that that was the Spanish-language custom.

Do all Hispanic countries use this system?

[Tooting Carmen]

Do all Hispanic countries use this system?

More-or-less.

[Sebastianus Rex]

The husband name is not mandatory for women, it is optional.

Several Portuguese names include also the family surname of the grandmothers, and might include as 2nd name the first name of one grandfather/grandmother, so 2 first names and 4 family names are not uncommon either....less nowadays, people are chosing shorter names for their children, wrongly so imo. When I see a foreign name such as John Smith I always get the impression they are orphans or something.

For.ex Instead of Paulo Trindade (Mother) Coelho (father) we often see Paulo Jorge (first name of one grandfather), dos Santos (grandmother surname), Trindade Coelho. Or similar combinations.

[Erronkari]

Although the Portuguese order is first the mother, they inherit the second, that is, from the father, therefore the line is also paternal.

Currently in Spain, which inherits the first surname, it is possible to choose the order, therefore some lines will be maternal. although the majority still choose the father's.

Exactly!!
Parental surname is always located in second term but it's the one continue in the next generations and it's the one people usually use more for non-oficial issues.
In Brazil it's exactly thus, they inherited that tradition exactly as portuguese.
I imagine that in Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tomé e Principe and other former portuguese territories should be exactly the same, although I haven't known any case from there, except of three angolan friends.

[Gallop]

The law allows, through a bureaucratic action, that the first surname be the mother's, but genealogists have raised a hue and cry and in any case, even if it is the mother's surname, it is still a man's surname and nobody would like their child to carry the surname of their father-in-law, who most likely is from another genealogical line.

[Tutankhamun]

We also inherited this custom from the Portuguese, but here the mother's surname comes first example, João da Silva (Mother's surname) Ferreira (Father's surname) I think the only difference in Portugal is that not everyone usually uses middle names before the two surnames.

In the past, Italian and German immigrants, let's say, did not follow this custom, and named their children only with their father's surname, but that has changed, today even in cities founded by German immigrants, or people of Italian descent, it is customary to use both surnames.

[Ouistreham]

This weird custom is probably related to the very special distribution of surnames in the Hispanic cultures:
• 1 - on one side, a few surnames are horridly common: you hardly find a group of, say, fifty or sixty Spanish persons without at least two Sanchez, two Garcias, two Martinez, more than one Lopez, Gonzalez etc. (it's like the countless Anderssons and Karlssons in Sweden).
• 2 - besides, there are a huge number of very rare surnames (often of Basque or Catalan origin) whose survival is endangered.

My hypothesis is that the custom of double surnames serves a more or less conscious rationale:
• it allows to better distinguish the individuals of the 1rst category,
• it allows the surnames of the 2nd category to be maintained a little bit longer.

[Sebastianus Rex]

We also inherited this custom from the Portuguese, but here the mother's surname comes first example, João da Silva (Mother's surname) Ferreira (Father's surname) I think the only difference in Portugal is that not everyone usually uses middle names before the two surnames.

In the past, Italian and German immigrants, let's say, did not follow this custom, and named their children only with their father's surname, but that has changed, today even in cities founded by German immigrants, or people of Italian descent, it is customary to use both surnames.

Nothing more beautiful than a long name in homage to your ancestors. João da Silva (equivalent toe English John Smith ) is extremely meh...while João de Andrade Melo e Vieira da Silva sounds wonderful and full of history! You can feel the full weight of the blood of your ancestors.