- In Hego Euskal Herria, the law allows the first surname of the child to be that of the mother, although social parity is still far away. The patriarchal tradition, the inertia, the bad reception of his father (and his family), even as an offense… continue to be weighed, apparently.
Since 2017, in the case of heterosexual couples, it is possible to decide whether the first surname is father or mother in the Spanish state, without providing documents. And starting in 2021, you have to specify which surname you want to put first, that is, it's not the parent if you don't say otherwise, like until then. Well, since the modification of the 2021 law until now, only 11.1% has given her son the last name of her mother, first in the Spanish state. In other words, 88.9% of children born in the last three years have the surname of their father.
Evidently, it is difficult to turn patriarchal inertia, in this case, the weight of customs and traditions is great, and therefore, to put the first mother's last name to the child is "to violate the rule" for some, odd, different, sign that for something has been done. And there are those who understand that "something" is a hostile attitude towards their father, even if he has neither feet nor heads. Because many men still regard it as a dishonor not to first go their father's surname, the "lose" the surname, as if it had been discarded. That's what an article from El País says. Interestingly, it is considered normal that the mother's last name should not go first and "lose" her last name. "We have normalized the elimination of women," says the article, which picks up the paper.
Some men find it dishonorable that the father's surname was not the first, that the surname "loses", as if it had been discarded. It is considered normal that the mother's surname should not go first.
Why Mom First?
Spanish legislation simplified the change in 2017 and, according to data from 2022, only 0.5% of Spaniards used it to give preference to their mother’s surname. Two years later, the data rose to 11.1%, still far from equality, although it can also be a reflection of a progressive change of trend.
Because the woman has taken the weight of the pregnancy and to recognize it, or because the surname of her father is still a practice of feminism, are some of the arguments of the couples who first put the surname of the woman. But other criteria are also taken into account: which is the couple's preferred last name, which is the most unusual last name, or the Basque one, alphabetically can influence that the last name starts with the A or the Z... -First choose your name and take it with my surname.
In Ipar Euskal Herria it is also possible to choose that the first surname be the mother's, but if not expressly stated, the father's surname is automatically assigned in the case of married couples. Notice that there is still a tradition in the French State: that the woman should marry the name of the man.