A cool feature of the Spanish naming custom is that it can infinitely keep track of surnames. E.g., following @alricb's comment below, let's consider Pablo Pica

A cool feature of the Spanish naming custom is that it can infinitely keep track of surnames. E.g., following @alricb's comment below, let's consider Pablo Picasso, who's name was Pablo Ruiz Picasso [1], after his father José Ruiz Blasco [2] and his mother María Picasso López. Surnames in the Spanish custom are concatenated with the following algorithm: father's first surname, mother's first surname, father's second surname, mother's second surname, and so on. In Pablo Picasso's case this would result in Ruiz Picasso Blasco López. Or in Python: ``` from itertools import chain fathers_surnames: list[str] = ["Ruiz", "Blasco"] mothers_surnames: list[str] = ["Picasso", "López"] kids_surnames: list[str] = list(chain.from_iterable(zip(fathers_surname, mothers_surname))) ``` Pablo Picasso's example is also a good way to touch upon your comment on how elites have used naming customs differently (I guess to distinguish themselves): Pablo's parents are listed in Wikipedia as "José Ruiz y Blasco" and "María Picasso y López", as opposed to the standard "José Ruiz Blasco" and "María Picasso López" (which I chose above). Similarly, Pablo was given the pompous birth name "Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso", instead of the more humble one (or maybe two) names that has been custom in Spanish. Tangentially, I would say piling up names like this is more of a Catholic tradition than a Spanish one, e.g., the Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, born Maria Theresia Beatrix Gaëtane, Erzherzogin von Österreich-Este, Prinzessin von Modena [3]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ruiz_y_Blasco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ruiz_y_Blasco [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduchess_Maria_Theresa_of_Austria-Este,_Countess_of_Chambord https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduchess_Maria_Theresa_of_A...