Mr. Alonso
Mr. Alonso!—that’s how some Americans would formally address me when I, for instance, arrive at a hotel. Martínez, they assume, is my middle name. Alonso, my last. The thing is, I don’t have any middle names.
In Spain, the legal convention is to hold two last names—mine are Martínez Alonso. Traditionally, these come from the father’s and then the mother’s first surnames. Nowadays, you can choose which one goes first. We chose my wife’s first surname to be our son’s first.
This confusion tempted me multiple times to join my last names with a dash in my online presence and international use. Martínez-Alonso would minimize the confusion.1
Is that it? Not really. The story doesn’t end there.
I was often greeted as Mr. Alonzo.
Why on earth would people misspell my second last name while holding my identification document in their hands?
A recommendation letter that said Martinez Alonzo.
A work badge labeled Nono Martinez Alonzo.
A hotel welcome letter addressed to Alonso Martinez.
It turns out that Alonzo is nearly as common a last name in the U.S. as Alonso.
Now I’ve got the context for when someone calls me Alonzo.
For one, people would cite my work as Martínez-Alonso, N. instead of Alonso, Nono M. ↩
