Page "Spanish naming customs" Paragraph 66

In Spain, legal and illegal foreign immigrants retain use of their cultural naming customs, yet upon becoming Spanish citizens, they are legally obliged to assume Spanish-style names ( a name and two surnames ).

If the naturalised person is from a one-surname culture, the actual surname is duplicated ; therefore, the English name “ George Albert Duran ” becomes the Spanish name “ George Albert Durán Durán ”, yet the law optionally allows him to adopt his mother's maiden name ( her surname ), as his maternal ( second ) surname.

Formally, Spanish naming customs conflate his name “ George ” and his middle-name “ Albert ” to the composite name “ George Albert ”, and his sole surname, “ Duran ”, is duplicated as his paternal and maternal surnames.