Hispano American naming customs are very similar to the two-surname personal appellation practised in Spain. This article highlights some of the differences that are found.
Most Hispanic Americans, such as Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado, have one or two given names (Rafael Vicente, in the example), a paternal surname and a maternal surname. In this example the person may be referred to as Mr. Correa, or Mr. Correa Delgado, but never Mr. Delgado.
In some countries, a married woman may add the conjunction de (English: of) followed by the paternal surname of her husband after her own paternal surname. Thus, Teresa García is known as Teresa García de Madero because she married Manuel Madero. However, in some countries doing so is increasingly frowned upon. Many Hispanic Americans even use English given names because of US influence.
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Spanish naming customs differ by country.
Although two surnames are legally accepted, the common practice in Argentina is to register only the paternal surname in the birth records (or only the maternal if there is no recognised father), so the common usage is to refer to people by a single surname. There are exceptions, however. For example, Gregorio Pérez Companc is the adopted son of Margarita Companc de Pérez, and Carlos Miguens Bemberg is the son of the architect Carlos Miguens and the film director María Luisa Bemberg.
In 2008, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner proposed that the maternal surname would always be included in the registries and that it could be placed in the first place.[1]
In Argentina, Eva Perón (Evita) and Isabel Perón (Isabelita), the second and third wives of Juan Perón (an ex-president), are commonly known by the Perón surname. This usage of only the marital surname, without the woman's surname nor the wife-connoting article de, is not an exceptional feature in common speech.
Instead of primer apellido (first surname) and segundo apellido (second surname), common in other countries, legally, the following expressions are used: apellido paterno (paternal surname) and apellido materno (maternal surname).
Although a woman may socially use the marital conjunction de, it is omitted in her legal name. For example Marta Larraechea very often is called Marta Larraechea de Frei, but her full legal name is Marta Larraechea Bolívar. As another example, Soledad Alvear is almost never called Soledad Alvear de Martínez; her full legal name is María Soledad Alvear Valenzuela.
Although not strictly a Hispanic American country but a Malay-Hispanic country, it uses a similar style. The convention is that with someone called Alberto Mercado Goméz, Mercado would be his maternal surname and Goméz the paternal. That person would seldom being addressed as Mr Mercado, but would instead be addressed as Mr Gómez. Nevertheless some people still follow the Spanish traditional surname conventions.
In August 2007, a draft law [2] by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council thus sought to change the national Venezuelan naming customs:
Proyecto de Ley Orgánica del Registro Civil: Limitación a la inscripción de nombres Artículo 106... no permitirán que... les coloquen nombres que los expongan al ridículo; sean extravagantes o de difícil pronunciación en el idioma oficial; contengan variantes familiares y coloquiales que denoten una identificación confusa o que generen dudas sobre la determinación del sexo. En estos casos, el registrador ofrecerá como referencia, un listado de los nombres y apellidos más comunes.... Quedan exceptuados de esta disposición los nombres de los niños, niñas o adolescentes de las etnias indígenas del país, así como los nombres de los hijos de los extranjeros....”
Civil Registry Organic Law Project: Limitation upon the inscription of names Article 106 “...[civil registrars] will not permit... [parents] to place names [upon their children] that expose them to ridicule; that are extravagant or difficult to pronounce in the official language; that contain familiar and colloquial variants that denote a confused identification, or that generate doubts about the determination of the sex. In these cases, the registrar will offer, as reference, a listing of the most common names and surnames... The names of boys, girls, or adolescents of the country's indigenous ethnic groups and the names of foreigners' children are excepted from this disposition. . . .”
Popular complaint against the naming-custom-limiting Article 106 compelled the Venezuelan National Electoral Council to delete it from the Civil Registry Organic Law Project.[3]
In some Latin American nations, a wife could drop her own maternal surname while adding her husband's apellido (his paternal surname) suffixed after her (paternal) first surname with the conjunction de (“of") — thus Ángela López Sáenz, as wife of Tomás Portillo Blanco, would become Ángela López de Portillo. In other nations doing so is frowned upon. The contemporary naming custom now practises the wife retaining her surname. The use of the husband's surname by a wife is typically encountered in social situations where the connection to the husband is being stressed. Her full formal married-name (Ángela López Sáenz de Portillo) is the documentary convention in only some Latin American countries. Where it exists, the custom provides her with ceremonial life and death wife-names, Ángela López, Sra. de Portillo (Ángela López, Wife of Portillo) wherein Sra. (señora, “Mrs”) connotes "wife"; and Ángela López Sáenz, vda. de Portillo (Ángela López Sáenz, Widow of Portillo), wherein vda. (viuda, “widow”) denotes widowhood.
Some names have the de conjunction without association to marriage at all. Instead they may reflect the geographical origin of the individual or that of the individual ancestors. Thus there are men named Juan Ponce de Leon, José de Guzmán Benítez, and Oscar de la Renta.
Limitación a la inscripción de nombres Artículo 106 ... no permitirán que ... les coloquen nombres que los expongan al ridículo; sean extravagantes o de difícil pronunciación en el idioma oficial; contengan variantes familiares y coloquiales que denoten una identificación confusa o que generen dudas sobre la determinación del sexo.
En estos casos, el registrador ofrecerá como referencia, un listado de los nombres y apellidos más comunes....
Quedan exceptuados de esta disposición los nombres de los niños, niñas o adolescentes de las etnias indígenas del país, así como los nombres de los hijos de los extranjeros....
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