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:
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)