A baby girl in Querétaro has become the first minor in that state to have two surnames derived from two maternal last names.
In Mexican convention, most people have two surnames: the first, from the person’s father and the second, from the mother. Each parent passes on surnames from their own fathers.
But baby Luna’s surnames are different. She bears her parents’ maternal (second) surnames, passed down from each of her grandmothers.
As of Wednesday, the legal name of the daughter of Mariel Aragón Rangel and Miguel Pérez Cabrera is Luna Rangel Cabrera. Traditionally her name would have been Luna Pérez Aragón.
Luna’s parents had to obtain a court order to be able to name their daughter as they wished because Querétaro is one of six states where there is a legal requirement for the surnames of children to be the paternal last names of their father and mother in that order.
Their initial attempt to obtain a birth certificate was rejected in November. They subsequently hired a lawyer who filed an application for an injunction, which was granted in January.
Aragón and Pérez told the newspaper Milenio that the law in Querétaro should be changed because as things stand it discriminates against women.
“We’re not talking about surnames that are … someone else’s; they’re our own surnames but those of our mothers,” Pérez said.
The Supreme Court ruled last December that it is unconstitutional to oblige babies to be registered with their father’s paternal surname first followed by that of their mother.
“Are fathers superior to mothers? Are men superior to women? They’re equal before the law; they are equal before their children. They deserve the same dignity,” Chief Justice Arturo Zaldívar said in a video message at the time.
