While surnames are usually one word, in some cases, known as compound surnames, a surname comprises more than one word.
This is especially common in Chinese speaking countries, in the form of Chinese compound surnames.
In most Spanish-speaking countries, the custom is for people to have two surnames. One is the surname of one's mother's family, the other of one's father's. When married, the woman might replace her second surname by the first surname of her spouse.
Compound surnames in English (and several other European cultures) feature two (or occasionally more) words, often joined by a hyphen or hyphens. However, it is not unusual for compound surnames to be composed of separate words not linked by a hyphen, for example Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, whose surname was "Conan Doyle".
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Famous quotes containing the word compound:
“Work is a responsibility most adults assume, a burden at times, a complication, but also a challenge that, like children, requires enormous energy and that holds the potential for qualitative, as well as quantitative, rewards. Isn’t this the only constructive perspective for women who have no choice but to work? And isn’t it a more healthy attitude for women writhing with guilt because they choose to compound the challenges of motherhood with work they enjoy?”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)