After reading in "Mamma Mia!" the testimony of a father about the last name his daughter bears, I have decided to tell you that according to the Spanish Civil Registry, When a family consisting of a father and a mother are expecting a baby, they can register him with the first surname of the woman, and secondly with the first surname of the parent. The order assigned for the first child will govern the following ones, and in turn all the descendants, or rather, each one of them can alter this order when they are of age.
The protagonist of the story that has inspired me is called Ari Sharp, and he lives in one of those places (Australia) where people usually carry the paternal surname (a single surname), with women who 'give in' and resign yours when they get married. It was not like that in the case of this couple, since it was totally unfair that, both collaborating in the family economy and having established domestic co-responsibility, such inequality existed. For this reason, they both kept their own surname, and when Melanie got pregnant, they decided to put her surname on the baby to be born.
The story is longer than what I have told you, because their pact was something like 'if it is going to be a girl, mother's last name, if we have a boy, that of father'. And while this happened in Australia, how is the order of surnames or their maintenance managed in the rest of the world?
Ending the system of imposition of surnames.
Said like that, it sounds unfair, right? but it is that it is the option that until recently was more widespread, before the preliminary drafts or legislative projects that are happening, is to impose the man's last name (when he only takes one), or force that of the father to go first. In Spanish-speaking countries, 2 surnames are usually given, and in Spain (as in Argentina, Uruguay or Ecuador) the change has already arrived. And with the change, many families choose that children can take their mother's first, as long as there is an agreement.
In other places on the planet, we find the most varied situations: without legislation, with a single surname but being able to decide which one, maintaining the imposition, forming a new surname using prefixes, without surnames, etc.
I'm going to be a mother: how will I get my children to have my last name first?
The requirements are not too complicated: there must be agreement, and the order will be chosen at the time of registration of the birth in the Civil Registry (or have it planned). In adoption cases we can do the same: establish the order when we go to register the child. Remember that the order in the surnames that your eldest son bears will be determined by that of his younger siblings.
The process ends with the imposition, but if the father objects, it will be the official in charge who decides, after the 3 days that are granted for both parents to reach an agreement.
Why want mom's last names to come first?
No one can convince you otherwise rather, it is an intra-family agreement that uses a favorable law. You may wish that your last name is not lost (You have the same right to keep that of your parents as your husband); you can wish that the infrequent surname comes first (you know: there are many García - for example - in Spain); It is also possible that you have turned to the combination name + surname + surname, until you find one that you like more, etc.
Your daughters and sons grow up and want to change the order of their surnames.
They can do so when they are of legal age, by going to the Civil Registry to formulate the request, in fact for those who were born after 2000 that is the only way. And on the other hand a family can change the order of their children's surnames again, even after birth registration.
Law 20/2011 of July 21 is responsible for our sons and daughters being able to have their mother's as their first surnameOf course it was an advance because before this we were the ones who renounced to maintain through the offspring the surname inherited from our parents, in these times it did not make any sense, of course.
It is established in this rule that "filiation determines surnames" and that if it is determined by both lines, the parents agree on the order of transmission of the first surname.
Picture - Peasant
More information - Ministry of Justice (Procedures) Civil Registry (Procedures)