The question of why Spanish names are so long is commonly asked. Why do people from Spanish speaking countries have such long names? This is because they have different naming customs as in English-speaking countries.
Spanish naming customs
- As in an English-speaking country, if John Smith and Nancy Jones get married, their child would have a surname Smith. However, in areas where Spanish is spoken as the native language, it's not the same. For example, if Juan López Marcos marries María Covas Callas, he or she would have a surname López Covas.
A person name consists of a given name followed by two surnames (family names). The first surname is the first surname from the father, and the second is the mother's first surname. Though, in recent years, the order of surnames can be reversed if it is decided by the parents. This is the reason why Spanish names are so long. The practice of a person with two surnames became the custom in Spain largely because of Arabic influence.
- If Teresa García Ramírez marries Elí Arroyo López, she doesn't change her name. However, it would be common for her to add "de Arroyo" (literally translated as "of Arroyo") in her name to become Teresa García Ramírez de Arroyo.
- The two surnames can sometimes be seperated by "y" which means "and" in English. So the husband name would be Elí Arroyo y López. The copulative conjunction "y" is used to distinguish a person's surnames and to avoid denominational confusion.
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- It is also possible to add grandparents' names in the mix
- To shorten the full name, you just need to drop the second surname. For example, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto is referred to as Peña when he is mentioned a second time.
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