Hispanic name change when taking husband's name

[Andrew83 0]

My fiancé is thinking about taking my last name, but isn't sure. She's from Colombian, and has lived in Spain for 15 years, and in neither country is it customary to take your husband's name. But I think in the end she wants to.

We are trying to figure out which is normal for Latina o Spanish girls who come here and do decide to take the husband's name. Would my name go last? or would her maiden name? I ask because our concept of middle names is almost the opposite for them. If her name is Sofia Marquez Garcia....she would more or less either always go by her full name, or go by Sofia Marquez...Marquez being her father's name and is what we would similar to our concept of a last name...and leaving off Garcia similar to how we don't typically include our middle name when asked our name.

So the girl's name would now be, Sofia Marquez Smith in the US? Or Sofia Smith Marquez? It's just confusing to me. Here in the US, in a name like Mrs. Sofia Marquez Smith, it would be assumed that Marquez is her maiden name, and Smith her married name. But say we go back to Spain to live one day, and suddenly, Sra. Sofia Marquez Smith has a different meaning. I dunno. I feel like we are over thinking it, but hell, it's her NAME! haha.

Can any girls in her situation help?

[Peter_Pan 661]

Just Sofia Smith?

Sounds kind of silly to wonder "what if one day we go to Spain"; in some countries, it is customary to introduce yourself using the family name first, so what are you going to do if you ever end up there?

[Jarrod&Vicky 17]

My fiancé is thinking about taking my last name, but isn't sure. She's from Colombian, and has lived in Spain for 15 years, and in neither country is it customary to take your husband's name. But I think in the end she wants to.

We are trying to figure out which is normal for Latina o Spanish girls who come here and do decide to take the husband's name. Would my name go last? or would her maiden name? I ask because our concept of middle names is almost the opposite for them. If her name is Sofia Marquez Garcia....she would more or less either always go by her full name, or go by Sofia Marquez...Marquez being her father's name and is what we would similar to our concept of a last name...and leaving off Garcia similar to how we don't typically include our middle name when asked our name.

So the girl's name would now be, Sofia Marquez Smith in the US? Or Sofia Smith Marquez? It's just confusing to me. Here in the US, in a name like Mrs. Sofia Marquez Smith, it would be assumed that Marquez is her maiden name, and Smith her married name. But say we go back to Spain to live one day, and suddenly, Sra. Sofia Marquez Smith has a different meaning. I dunno. I feel like we are over thinking it, but hell, it's her NAME! haha.

Can any girls in her situation help?

Hey, I'm from Argentina. This is pretty simple and things are not that different down here. Sometimes people have more than one "last name" since your parents decide to use both mom's and dad's to write down your surname. Marquez could be from her mom, and Garcia from her dad or the other way around. It could also have been done "up" in the Family tree like in my case, so I have two "last names" but both coming from my dad (they were from my grandmother and grandfather).

Middle names are middle names and that's it. From what I read, your fiance has no middle name. My name is Maria Victoria, being Victoria my middle name. Both "Marquez Garcia" are her last name.

My example (I'm changing some data to remain confidential) is: right now I'm Maria Victoria Messi Ginobili, and let's imagine my fiance's last name is Sinatra, then I'm changing it to Maria Victoria Sinatra.

If she still wants to keep her last name, the order should be Sofia (name) Marquez Garcia (maiden name) Smith... but if you ask me... wayyy too long and difficult to spell every single time they ask for her last name in the US!!!

Hope it helps and I was able to explain it in a way you could understand it.

[amyjohans 4]

There are many options when it comes to names. In Latin America the women usually don't change their last name, but can refer to themselves as 'de' plus their husbands last name. For example Maria Jose Cevallos Cepeda marries Juan Carlos Rodriguez Flores. She could refer to herself by her maiden name or Maria Jose de Rodriguez or Maria Jose Cevallos de Rodriguez. None of the 'de' options are legal name changes they are just how she might refer to herself socially.

Another option would be to drop both of her last names and take her husbands to become Maria Jose Rodrigues.

Or she could change her middle name to include her maiden name.

You can do whatever you choose and whatever you are most comfortable with when it comes to names. What is normal in one country won't be in another but that's life. Right now I live in Ecaudor and I chose not to change my last name which is normal here. However if or when we move to the US my choice not to change my name might not be so 'normal' anymore.

[amyjohans 4]

There are many options when it comes to names. In Latin America the women usually don't change their last name, but can refer to themselves as 'de' plus their husbands last name. For example Maria Jose Cevallos Cepeda marries Juan Carlos Rodriguez Flores. She could refer to herself by her maiden name or Maria Jose de Rodriguez or Maria Jose Cevallos de Rodriguez. None of the 'de' options are legal name changes they are just how she might refer to herself socially.

Another option would be to drop both of her last names and take her husbands to become Maria Jose Rodrigues.

Or she could change her middle name to include her maiden name.

You can do whatever you choose and whatever you are most comfortable with when it comes to names. What is normal in one country won't be in another but that's life. Right now I live in Ecaudor and I chose not to change my last name which is normal here. However if or when we move to the US my choice not to change my name might not be so 'normal' anymore.

[Pikku 0]

I think a lot depends on personal preference, My mother was named under Spanish/Latin customs so she had her father's and her mother's last name EXAMPLE (fictitious name): Anette Maria Perez Santos. When she did her process with her husband she took her husbands' last name EXAMPLE Watherton and dropped BOTH of her last names, and kept her first name and her husband's last name making her Anette Watherton. So she is named the same here,on Colombia, on Spain and everywhere else and there are no confusions!

Another example is when my grandmother married to my grandpa who was an US Citizen, her name was (fictitious name) Maria Carmen Martinez Peron, but when she married my grandpa she went by Maria Carmen Martinez de Smith.

They separated, but never formally divorced, so she still keeps using "de Smith" or goes by Maria Carmen Martinez , or Maria Carmen Martinez - Smith, or when in our homeland Maria Carmen Martinez DE Smith . (ficticious names, but same example)

I think ultimately the choice is up to her, whatever she feels better using, she wont have any issues when going to Colombia if she drops BOTH or one of her last names, because she can identify herself with her Cedula until she dies, so no issues there. also, if she owns property or wishes to buy some, or get insurance, no issues with that either if she drops her last names, and gets yours.

Hope you guys find a combination you love

[Nica_In_Love 98]

It really depends on what she wants. I'm from Nicaragua and I changed my name on my Nicaraguan passport before coming to the U.S. However, the "formal" way of registering a woman's married name in Nicaragua is using "de" as others have pointed out. So, even though my passport says (example) "Maria Alejandra Martinez de Smith" my Green Card was issued as "Maria Alejandra Smith".

I didn't request it exactly like that as it's known that the GC will be issued under the same name as the passport, but I guess Homeland Security has knowledge of the use of "de" and just issued the GC the American way. Legally my name back home hasn't really changed, so I'm sure if you guys move back your fiance can still use her maiden name just fine.

[EminTX 131]

When deciding about my name here (I am the female) I learned the laws for naming in my husband's home country.

I was born:

Emily Melinda O'Connor

I am now:

Emily O'connor Rodriguessanchez

My husband is:

Carlos Juan Rodriguessanchez

(My husband was adamant about me having both his parents' names.)

When I move to his country and become a citizen there, this will be my state-mandated legal name:

Emily Melinda O'Connor Killings de Rodriguez

My husband will be:

Carlos Juan Rodrigues Sanchez de O'Connor

My mother-in-law is:

Nancy Lucia Sanchez Sanchez de Rodriguez (Yep, her parents had the same names.)

Latin-Amreican countries (and others!) have various laws regarding naming. It is worth it to research this before marriage. Mexico changed their laws a few years ago, for example. There is a culture (in the Caribbean?) where the woman drops her first name and uses her husband's first name upon marriage. All of this can be very confusing.

In our situation, we use a name with no hyphens or spaces because of the problems I see with patients in the ER who have to have things changed or get their stuff mixed up or delays because their records go into the "unspecified" zone and require ISD (technical support) to combine their various names. In a computer a single difference is a different person and when you are a trauma victim, you don't want ANY delays because you are silly about how you write your name. (There are ways of going around this, but they all take precious minutes or hours and people just using word of mouth to pass on information in the meantime.)

The name I usually use to introduce myself to people with is:

Emily Rodrigues

Edited September 3, 2012 by EminTX