Application to change a first name or the order of surnames (Spain)
€1.38Fill it in online free — pay only to download
10 questions · about 4 min
This document is in Spanish
The PDF you download is in Spanish — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Fill out the form
Your answers stay on this device for 7 days, or until you clear them.
- Instant download after payment
- Backup link emailed to you
- No account needed
For an adult who wants to reverse the order of their surnames or change their first name to the one they habitually use. Spanish Civil Registry offices have their own application form: if they offer it, you may use it. This application, in the Spanish “EXPONE / SOLICITA” shape, identifies the birth registration, says what is asked and, for a first name, the reasons and the proof of use. It is filed at the Civil Registry office, which decides in a file, with a copy of the ID. In Spanish.
- Made for use in Spain
- Last updated October 20, 2026
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- You want your mother’s surname to come first and to swap the order of your surnames in Spain.
- Everyone calls you by a name different from the one on your birth record and you want to change it formally.
- You have come of age and want to carry your surnames in the other order.
- You need a written application to the Civil Registry in Spain to change your first name or the order of your surnames.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's DNI or NIE (Spanish identity number)
- Applicant's address
- Where and when the birth is registered
- What is applied for
- First name(s) and surname after the change
- Reason
- City
- Date
- Civil Registry office addressed
Common questions
- Where is the application to change a first name or the order of surnames filed in Spain?
- At a Civil Registry office (Registro Civil), which handles every application to change a name or surnames (articles 53 to 55 of Spain’s Civil Registry Act, Ley 20/2011). Many offices have their own application form: if they offer it, you may use it instead of this application. Hand it in in person with two copies and ask for one to be returned stamped with the date of entry.
- What is needed in Spain to change your first name to the one you use every day?
- The requested name must be in habitual use, there must be a just cause and the change must not harm third parties; the Civil Registry officer decides in a file. Provide proof of use, such as documents, certificates from work or a school, and correspondence. Minimal spelling changes are refused, and without proof of habitual use the decision lies with the Ministry, not the Registry office.
- Can an adult in Spain change the order of their surnames without anyone’s permission?
- Yes. On coming of age, a child may ask for the order of their surnames to be altered by a declaration before the Civil Registry (article 109 of the Spanish Civil Code), without the parents’ consent. Changing the surnames themselves is a different procedure, with its own requirements. Once it is registered, renew the DNI or passport and tell banks, the employer and public bodies.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
Related documents
- Administrative appeal (alzada or reposición) against a decision (Spain)
You can file the appeal free of charge on the body's electronic office, with its own appeal form or general application form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for challenging an act of a Spanish ministry, regional government or town hall: the recurso de alzada to the higher body, if the act does not end the administrative route, or the recurso de reposición to the same body, if it does. The notification says which applies, to whom and the time limit: one month for an express act. It follows art. 115 of Spanish Law 39/2015; you write the grounds. Not for taxes or traffic fines. File it through a registry.
- Claim to the Transparency Council over refused information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office of Spain's Transparency and Good Governance Council, with its own form, or with your region's transparency body; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it challenges the full or partial refusal of a request for public information, or the lack of any answer, on your own grounds, within the month set by art. 24.2 of Spanish Law 19/2013. The Council has three months to decide.
- Request for access to public information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the Spanish State's Transparency Portal and on each body's electronic office, with their own form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it asks a ministry, a regional government, a town hall or another public body for information it holds, under Spanish Law 19/2013 on transparency or the region's transparency law, without having to say why. The body has one month to decide.
- Personal invitation letter and accommodation undertaking (Spain)
The official invitation letter (carta de invitación) is applied for in person by the host at the police station where they live, paying the fee on form 790 code 012 (Spanish Order PRE/1283/2007); DocMuse does not sell it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, only accompanies it: the host's personal letter to the Spanish embassy or consulate, with the relationship, purpose and dates of the visit, the home and the costs the host covers. It does not replace the official letter. Sign it and send it to the guest, who files it with the visa application.
- General application to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office and at the counters of each Spanish public body, with its own general application form (instancia general); you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is an application with the content article 66 of Spanish Law 39/2015 asks for — your details, how to notify you, facts, request, place, date, signature and the body addressed — for any request to a ministry, a regional government or a town hall that has no form of its own. File it through a registry or at a post office as administrative mail.
- Letter of complaint to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the body's electronic office or at its counters, with its own complaints and suggestions form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is the complaint about how a public service works — waiting times, treatment, unanswered letters, mistakes — sent to the body itself: it sets out the facts with dates and the office, and asks to be told what is done. In the Spanish State administration the unit answers within twenty working days. File it through a registry or at a post office.