Difference Between Hyphen and Just a Space?

If you have just a space, pretty much everyone will refer to you just as HisLast. Double-barreled last name with just a space is common in Spanish-speaking countries, but is so unknown here that many people from Spanish-speaking countries end up hyphenating their name here, just so others will recognize that both names are part of the last name.

I've never seen a last name with a space. Having worked in medical registration, I'm not sure if we'd have been able to do that...?

Hey Stephanie! I would definitely recommend contacting your local government and asking them the legal meaning of the difference. Just to be sure before you make a decision!

Are you dropping your middle name and putting your maiden name where your middle name would be? That's the only way I've seen a space. Like Firstname Maidenname Newlastname. If you want 2 last names like Firstname Middlename Maidenname-Newlastname, I'd say you should do a hyphen. I think grammatically, without the hyphen, your new last name would be considered your only last name, and you'd have 2 middle names if you kept your middle plus your maiden.

View Quoted Comment I definitely plan on keeping my middle name. So I it would be "Stephanie MiddleName MyLName HisLname." But thanks for your input! I may have to check with someone like Sinead suggested to see if no hyphen is something I can even do.