Spanish and Catalan names are different to most of other countries. We keep both family names, that of the father and that of the mother. That means, my name is Carlos, my first family name (which comes from my father) is Alós, and my second family name (which comes from my mother) is Ferrer. Other examples include Andreu (first name) Mas (father's family name) Colell (mother's family name), Xavier Sala Martín, Fernando Vega Redondo

This is seldom understood out of Spain. Most people tend to call me "Mr. Ferrer," because they see that as the last part of my name. Although this would make my mother happy, it is incorrect. My first family name, the one I expect people to use, is Alós

To avoid these confusions, most of us working abroad make a subtle change to our names, adding a dash (-) between the first and the second family name, so that people realize that both are important. Hence, you see Carlos Alós-Ferrer, Andreu Mas-Colell, Fernando Vega-Redondo, but it would be equally correct if you called us Carlos Alós, Andreu Mas, and Fernando Vega, which is precisely what happens in Spain.

Unfortunately, adding that dash makes some people think that it comes from our wife and that it implies that we are married with somebody whose family name is what comes after the dash. That has nothing to do with it. When spaniards marry, nobody changes his or her name. The husband keeps his two family names, the wife keeps her two family names, and the children receive as first family name their father's first family name and as second family name their mother's first family name. So all family names survive at least two generations.

It is very simple, really... I wonder why people keep calling me "Mr.Ferrer."

Carlos Alós Ferrer, Andreu Mas Colell, and Xavier Sala Martín are (partially) Spanish versions of Catalan names. In Catalan, both family names are separated by an "i," which means "and." Hence, the Catalan name is Xavier Sala i Martín. If you want to keep this "i," then you end up with Xavier Sala-i-Martín...

Worse, not everybody opts for the dash. Some of us, like Ana Begoņa (double name) Ania (first family name) Martínez (second family name) or Carmen Herrero Blanco simply drop the second family name entirely, and, if they happen to have a double name, abbreviate the second part of it as if it were an american middle name (which it isn't). So you end with Ana B. Ania or Carmen Herrero. That's not too bad. What really adds to confusion and should be plainly banned (rant mode on here), is people who really cheat. Like my coauthor, José Carlos (that's the name, again a double one) Rodríguez (the first and most important family name, no matter what he says) Alcantud (the second and unimportant family name), who decided to give preference to his uncommon second family name over his very common first family name (especially because the second starts with an "A", so he gets to be first in the author list of all papers, even before myself (!!!)). Hence, he signs as J.C.R. Alcantud. Granted, that might be individually rational, but it makes people think that what is a nothing but mistake (using the last family name) is correct...