How do Spanish surnames work for children and after marriage?

How a name is built

1. el padre The father: Juan García Ruiz He passes on his first surname only: García.
2. la madre The mother: Ana López Soto She passes on her first surname only: López.
3. la hija The daughter: Lucía García López First surname from the father, second from the mother. Both appear on her identity card and every official paper.
4. casarse She marries Nothing changes. A woman keeps her two surnames all her life, just like a man. At school her mother is señora López, not señora García.
5. los nietos Her children They get García from Lucía and their father's first surname. López lasts one generation — unless a family chooses to put the mother's name first.

• In Spain every person has a first name and two surnames; the first usually comes from the father and the second from the mother.
• Nobody changes their surname on marrying in Spain. A woman keeps her two surnames all her life, just like a man.
• A 1999 law, in force from 2000, let parents put the mother's surname first if both agreed; since 2017 the law gives the father no priority at all and the parents choose the order. If they cannot agree, the Civil Registry decides in the child's interest.
• In practice almost all families still put the father's surname first: ministry figures published in 2021 showed only about 0.5% of babies with the mother's surname first.
• At eighteen, anybody can ask to have the order of their surnames swapped.

En España cada persona tiene un nombre y dos apellidos.

In Spain every person has a first name and two surnames.

Si el padre es Juan García Ruiz y la madre es Ana López Soto, su hija puede ser Lucía García López.

If the father is Juan García Ruiz and the mother is Ana López Soto, their daughter can be Lucía García López.

Al casarse, nadie cambia de apellido en España.

Nobody changes their surname on marrying in Spain.

Desde 2017, la ley ya no da preferencia al padre. Los padres eligen el orden.

Since 2017 the law no longer gives the father priority. The parents choose the order.