As of June 30, the paternal last name has ceased to have prevalence over the mother in Spain. This means that when enrolling the newborn, the father's last name is no longer preferred in the first place, but both parents must agree on the order of the last names.
We have known the data for the month of July and apparently the entry of the new law has not changed customs at all. He 95.5 percent, that is, almost all babies born last month still have their father's last name first.
Dad's last name, the favorite
According to data from the Ministry of Justice, during the month of July 35,583 children were born in Spain and, of these, only 193 bear the mother's last name.
Until July 1, parents could also register their child with the maternal surname first if they requested it to the Judge in charge of the Civil Registry, but if not, by default preference was given to the father's surname first place.
As of now, the parents have three days to agree on the order of the surnames and may be indistinctly one or the other, but now that they can choose, the paternal last name remains, by far the most chosen.
In fact, more babies have been registered with the mother's last name in the months prior to the entry into force of the new Civil Registry reform. In May, out of a total of 38,925 births, 298 registered with the mother's last name (0.7%) and in June, out of a total of 36,420 births, 320 children registered with the mother's last name (0.8%) .
However, the figures show that carrying the mother's last name in the first place has been an upward trend among newborns in the last seven years. Of the 1,546 babies born in 2010 to 2,953 born in 2016, almost double. Everything indicates that even if the paternal last name is still chosen, more and more children will have their mother's name first.
