Shakeup for Spanish naming customs

Spain's birth registration laws will end the father's automatic right to hand his surname down to his children before their mother's
Artist Pablo Picasso
Artist Pablo Picasso could have been known as Pablo Ruiz if his parents had followed Spain's new naming system. Photograph: Gjon Mili/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

A revolutionary change planned for Spain's birth registration laws will end the father's automatic right to hand his surname down to his children before their mother's.

Spaniards have two surnames, and under current law either can come first. Traditionally, however, it is the father's, and in cases of a dispute the father's name automatically takes priority.

Under a new law proposed by the country's socialist government, however, registrars will be told to put the surnames in alphabetical order – unless otherwise instructed by the parents.

The rule would have altered some of the most famous names in Spanish history. The man who ruled as a dictator for 36 years, General Francisco Franco, would have become General Bahamonde, while the architect Antoni Gaudi would have been known as Antoni Cornet.

Critics said it would endanger surnames whose first letters are at the end of the alphabet. These will gradually be relegated to second place on the surname list and not be passed down to grandchildren.

The law also proposes letting people replace the name of a parent who has been found to have abused them as a child.

It was unclear what it would do about single mothers — who have generally been obliged to invent a second surname for their children if they do not want their child to receive the father's name.

"This is more democratic and equal," said José Antonio Alonso, the socialist party's parliamentary leader following the leaking of the measure to El País, Spain's biggest-selling newspaper, yesterday.

"We would prefer it was up to the will of each family, rather than the alphabet," said the spokesman for the United Left coalition, Gaspar Llamazares.

Spanish women do not change their surnames at marriage. There has, however, always been a certain flexibility about which of their two surnames Spaniards give most prominence.

Artist Pablo Picasso, for example, chose his second surname, as did the actor Antonio Banderas. Their first surnames, Ruíz and Domínguez respectively, were obviously too commonplace. Manchester City midfielder David Silva also prefers his mother's surname and even socialist prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is more commonly known by his second surname.

Conservative opposition leader Mariano Rajoy vowed to "do battle" against the measures, according to the party's leader in Aragon, Luisa Fernanda Rudi. Perhaps that is not surprising. Under the proposed new rules, Mr Rajoy might have become, using his mother's surname first, Mr Brey.

How they might have been known

Under the new law ...

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres would become Fernando Sanz

Barcelona striker David Villa becomes David Sanchez

Dictator Francisco Franco becomes Francisco Bahamonde

Architect Antoni Gaudi becomes Antoni Cornet

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