Wife's name change

[Marco 72]

I am filling in my AN naturalisation application, and it just occurred to me that my wife had a different name at birth. She was born in Mexico, where people normally have two surnames (their father's followed by their mother's). So her name at birth was something like: Maria Gomez Romero. After she emigrated to the US, the second surname became her middle name, since in the US people only have one surname. So she is now Maria Romero Gomez. This is the name which appears on her US passport, the only one she ever uses. The IND also knows her as Maria Romero Gomez.

So, if I wanted to be 100% accurate, on page 6 I should put Maria Romero Gomez for "Full name of wife before marriage", and Maria Gomez Romero for "Name at birth". However, I wouldn't want them to think I've made a mistake and delay my application because of this. What would you recommend? She never actually underwent a name change, it's just that Mexico and the US have different conventions on how to write down Mexican names. Would it be ok for me to give her current name as "Name at birth"?

[Dawie]

Interesting problem. My girlfriend is Spanish and lives in the UK and she has a similar problem because of course the Mexicans got their surname convention from the Spanish. Let's say her name is Concha Garcia Bernal*. This often leaves UK authorities confused because they assume that Garcia is her middle name (in the UK sense) and that Bernal is her proper surname, whereas as course she considers Garcia to be her proper surname and the Bernal part is from her mother.

This confuses many computer entry systems because you'd be surprised how many websites for example will not accept a surname with a space in it leaving her no choice but to either enter her surname as Garcia or as Garcia-Bernal with a hyphen. This is particularly apparent on a lot of airline websites resulting in her having to use Garcia-Bernal as her entered surname just to make sure it looks like what it says in her passport.

Another interesting part of the Spanish surname convention is that wives do not take on the surname of their husbands. One of the great things about having a surname system like this is that it makes it a lot easier to trace back ancestors because for any particular individual you always know the surnames of the individuals father and mother unlike the English system.

As to how this all relates to your situation, I would use page 13 of the application form to carefully explain the situation.

* All names have been changed to protect innocent parties

[Marco 72]

Thanks, I followed your advice and used page 13 for an explanation. I don't think they'll care too much anyway, since she is not a British citizen. In the US there are many immigrants from Latin America, so the authorities there are very familiar with Spanish surname conventions.

[Christophe]

Thanks, I followed your advice and used page 13 for an explanation. I don't think they'll care too much anyway, since she is not a British citizen. In the US there are many immigrants from Latin America, so the authorities there are very familiar with Spanish surname conventions.

They're only going to worry about it if they're silly, because the principles of Spanish surname conventions are well enough known in this country (I should have thought - although the details may not be). But, of course, some people are silly, so explaining the situation can't be a bad idea.