Abstract

Rules pertaining to the attribution of surname have long been debated both at national and international level. And the reason is not hard to grasp. Until quite recently, the practice followed in many countries in this respect, i.e. the automatic attribution to children of the father’s surname, was regarded as lawful and reasonable. Still, this practice, other than realizing a patent discrimination to the detriment of the mother, may be questionable from the perspective of the right to personal identity as well. The scope of the paper is to explore the above perspective through the lens of the Spanish and Italian legal systems.