<Li> In Hispanic tradition, double surnames are the norm, and not an indication of social status . A person will take the (first) surname of their father, followed by the (first) surname of their mother (i.e. their maternal grandfather's surname). The double surname itself is not heritable . These names are combined without hyphen (but optionally combined using y "and"). In addition to this, there are heritable double surnames (apellidos compuestos) which are combined with a hyphen . </Li> <Li> In German tradition, double surnames are taken upon marriage, written with or without hyphen, combining the husband's surname with the wife's (more recently the sequence has become optional under some legislations). These double surnames are "alliance names" (Allianznamen) and as such not heritable . </Li> <P> A few British upper - class families have "triple - barrelled" surnames (e.g. Anstruther - Gough - Calthorpe; Cave - Browne - Cave; Elliot - Murray - Kynynmound; Heathcote - Drummond - Willoughby; Smith - Dorrien - Smith; Vane - Tempest - Stewart). Not all of those with multiple names were of the nobility; landed gentry such as George Henry Lane - Fox Pitt - Rivers consolidated the estates and wealth of several families in their multiple names . These are sometimes created when one spouse has a double - barrelled name and the other has a single surname . Nowadays, such names are almost always abbreviated in everyday use to a single or double - barrelled version . There are even a few "quadruple - barrelled" surnames (e.g. Hepburn - Stuart - Forbes - Trefusis, Hovell - Thurlow - Cumming - Bruce, Montagu - Stuart - Wortley - Mackenzie, Plunkett - Ernle - Erle - Drax, Stirling - Home - Drummond - Moray, and the Danish Krag - Juel - Vind - Frijs family). The surname of the extinct family of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos was the quintuple - barrelled Temple - Nugent - Brydges - Chandos - Grenville . </P> <P> Captain Leone Sextus Denys Oswolf Fraudatifilius Tollemache - Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache - Tollemache is sometimes quoted as the man with the most ever "barrels" in his surname (six), but in fact all but the last two of these (Tollemache - Tollemache) were forenames . </P>

Can you have two surnames in the uk