Why do some people have more than one last name?

Question

I am not really sure why people have more than two names, for an example this girl has more than one and her name is Emily Hartley-Saldder. There is an actress with the same last name and from what I have heard the girl is her daughter. Is her second last name from her father?

Answer 1

Sometimes women will hyphenate their last name so that they don't lose the identity of their surname. It would be similar to a woman not taking her husbands name. It's all personal choice

Answer 2

because the woman wants to keep her last name

Answer 3

In recent years Americans (even Medicaid patients;I know I worked for a hospital business office) want to use the double surname like British titled families.

In the English speaking world usually the maiden name is followed by the husband's name.

In the Hispanic world is pretty much a legal requirement but they do it differently.

The husband's surname is his father's (patonymic) name followed by his mother' maiden name.

The wife and childrens' name is the father and huband's (patronymic) name followed by the wife's maiden name.

until the daughter gets married

She drops her mother's maiden name,  pushes her father's name to the right and put her husband's (patronymic) name in front.

Patronymic name is what most of us Americans use as our surnames which changes when women get married.  It comes down from the direct male line of descent.