Family Name or Last Name?

[Sand 5]

Hi,

Now. On form N-400 part 8: it says Spouse's Family name (LAST NAME) i understand that and very clear, but if i back backward when i filed for my GC On part 3 on form I-485 it says there (List your present husband/wife ....) and on the buttom there it says (FAMILY NAME)(GIVEN NAME)(MIDDLE INITIAL) Now. is there any difference between family name and last name?? because i noticed on form N-400 it says Family name (LAST NAME) and on the I-485 it says Just (Family Name) the reason i am asking that because my spouse originally from Italy, But now American for so many Years and i think Italian people using Family name as a maiden name, and they have also last name ? so i was wondering if this can make a problem when i file for my Citizenship ? because i heard they will review my I-485 Application, and i dont want any problem..

Thank you.

[NickD 202]

Hi,

Now. On form N-400 part 8: it says Spouse's Family name (LAST NAME) i understand that and very clear, but if i back backward when i filed for my GC On part 3 on form I-485 it says there (List your present husband/wife ....) and on the buttom there it says (FAMILY NAME)(GIVEN NAME)(MIDDLE INITIAL) Now. is there any difference between family name and last name?? because i noticed on form N-400 it says Family name (LAST NAME) and on the I-485 it says Just (Family Name) the reason i am asking that because my spouse originally from Italy, But now American for so many Years and i think Italian people using Family name as a maiden name, and they have also last name ? so i was wondering if this can make a problem when i file for my Citizenship ? because i heard they will review my I-485 Application, and i dont want any problem..

Thank you.

Wife wanted to use her maiden name and did on both the AOS and I-751 application, like Gloria Consuelo (Smith) Jones, where Smith was her maiden name, and Jones the same as my last name, her married name. Generally, the Smith-Jones format. Found that to be confusing, especially in this computer age and in the phone book her name would be listed under S in this example rather than J.

So she elected to drop her maiden name on the N-400 with no problems just using the "Jones", also on her SS card and driver's license, and now her name is under mine in the phone book. But for a married woman in her country, this was the tradition to do it that way with even more confusion as the kids put the mothers maiden name AFTER the married name. Never said anything about this to her about the confusion of the maiden name in between, just let her figure that out for herself. Most people in the USA just ignore that added maiden name, and so did the USCIS, SS, and her driver's license. Besides that, she likes her new married name, has class.

[lucyrich 19]

In most English-speaking cultures, along with many others, the family name is last, and the given name is first, so that someone from the Smith family whose family named him John would go by "John Smith". In that case, "family name" and "last name" mean exactly the same thing.

But in some cultures, the family name is first, and the given name is last. For example, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is from the Kim family, and his parents gave him the name Jong-Il (I think I've got that reference correct).

Immigration forms normally avoids using the terms "first name" and "last name" for that reason. Kim Jong-Il would say his first name is "Kim", but that's his family name.

There are also cultures which append the mother's surname to the father's surname, but use the father's surname as the primary family name that gets handed down to the next generation. For another example of someone unlikely to ever fill out US Immigration paperwork, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez uses his father's surname "Chávez" for most purposes. But his full name is "Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías". Everyone in his culture understands that the "Frías" part is his mother's last name. His children carry the name "Chávez" and not "Frías", and he rarely uses the "Frías" part of his name. But if he had to fill out paperwork asking for his "last name" he might interpret that to mean they wanted him to write "Frías", since that is the final name he writes when he writes his full legal name.

So when immigration forms ask for "family name" you put down the surname that you normally use. It may or may not appear as the final word in your full legal name.

[Sand 5]

so i should be ok or what??

[NickD 202]

so i should be ok or what??

Give an example, don't have to use real names, of what you are trying to do.

[Sand 5]

Give an example, don't have to use real names, of what you are trying to do.

Hi NickD, Okay when on form I-485 on part 3 B. it says (Family Name) <= Spouse Family Name so we thought Family name is different than Last name so we user my spouse last name. same as on form G-325A it says there, (For wife, give maiden name) so we did put the same Family name as a maiden name. but on the Affidavit of support (Information on sponsor) there was LAST NAME .. so we thought the last name here is the last name on the ID card or Drives license, because it says LAST NAME. so it was different than the one on Form I-485 on form I-485 it says FAMILY NAME it dint mention LAST NAME, Now i am going to fill my N-400 Application and it says there My spouse last name, so i was told they are going to review my I-485 during the N-400 Interview and i dont want him to ask me why my spouse has 2 different names.. got my idea yet ?? and i dont know if it will be any problem. (Oh Add something like on Form G-325A it says (Family Name For wife, give maiden name) so maiden name is family name right?

Thank you so much

Edited January 26, 2010 by Sand