Which surname do Spaniards actually use?

Which one people actually use

In daily life it is mostly the first surname that is used: el señor García, la doctora López. García is the most common surname in Spain — about 1.45 million people had it as their first surname in 2024 — followed by Rodríguez, González, Fernández and López. Most surnames in -ez mean 'son of': Rodríguez, son of Rodrigo.

When the first surname is very common, the second gets used instead. Federico García Lorca is simply Lorca; Pablo Ruiz Picasso signed with his mother's name because Ruiz was so common. Gabriel García Márquez is filed under G, not M: in any list, the order is by the first surname.

Some surnames carry de or del (De la Fuente, Del Río); some are compound with a hyphen (Pérez-Reverte); and sometimes a lower-case y links the two, as in Ortega y Gasset.

• In everyday life mostly the first surname is used: señor García, doctora López.
• García is the most common surname in Spain; according to the INE about 1.45 million people had it as their first surname in 2024.
• When the first surname is very common, the second is sometimes used: Lorca, Picasso.
• In a list, names are ordered by the first surname: García Márquez is filed under G.
• In Mexico the most common surname is Hernández; most surnames in -ez mean son of.

García es el apellido más común de España.

García is the most common surname in Spain.

Por eso, cuando el primero es muy común, a veces se usa el segundo.

So when the first one is very common, the second one is sometimes used.

Gabriel García Márquez es hijo de Gabriel García y de Luisa Márquez.

Gabriel García Márquez is the son of Gabriel García and Luisa Márquez.