What does apellido in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word apellido in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use apellido in Spanish.

The word apellido in Spanish means last name, family name, call yourself, name yourself, be named, be called, hyphenated last name, hyphenated surname, married last name, married surname, maiden name, mother's last name, father's last name, take as your own, second surname. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word apellido

last name, family name

nombre masculino (persona: nombre de familia)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Me llamo Patricia, mi apellido paterno es Garza y mi apellido materno es Flores.
ⓘEsta oración no es una traducción de la original. My name is Patricia and my last name is Garza.

call yourself, name yourself

verbo pronominal (ponerse un apellido) (surname)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

be named, be called

verbo pronominal (tener un apellido) (surname)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

hyphenated last name, hyphenated surname

(de más de una palabra)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
En España son muy comunes los apellidos compuestos.
Hyphenated surnames are very common in Spain.

married last name, married surname

(apellido del esposo)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
Mi madre no usa su apellido de casada.
My mother doesn't use her married surname.

maiden name

locución nominal masculina (que usó la mujer antes de casarse)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

mother's last name

(apellido de la madre)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
En Argentina no es común usar el apellido materno.
In Argentina it is uncommon to use the mother's last name.

father's last name

(apellido del padre)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
En Argentina sólo se usa el apellido paterno.
In Argentina only the father's last name is used.

take as your own

locución verbal (reconocer como propio) (child)

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")
Pedro le dio apellido al niño, aunque no era su hijo.
Pedro took the child as his own, even though he wasn't the father.

second surname

(apellido tras el primero)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
El segundo apellido de Carlos López es Gómez.
Carlos Lopez' second surname is Gómez.

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So now that you know more about the meaning of apellido in Spanish, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Spanish.

Do you know about Spanish

Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.