what is the correct way to alphabetically file hyphenated and double last names?

Question

ie
Anna apple-smith
Anna Apple Smith

are both filed under apple or is w no hyphen filed under smith

Answer 1

I assume you are talking about two LAST names, and not a middle and a last name. So in both cases, they should be filed under APPLE:

Apple-Smith, Anna
Apple Smith, Anna

If Apple is a middle name, it would look like this:

Smith, Anna Apple

HOWEVER, in the case of Hispanic double last names, it is a little more complicated, and often a source of some confusion in the US. The First Last Name is taken from the Father, the Second Last Name from the Mother. So Juanita Rodriguez Perez can be filed:

Rodriguez Perez, Juanita, or
Rodriguez, Juanita

BUT

Perez, Juanita

is someone else! (Or should be -- sometimes the paperwork gets done incorrectly. See the link below for a terrific explanation of this.)

OK, now say that Juanita marries Roberto Avila Guiterrez. She takes on his paternal last name to become:

Juanita Rodriguez Perez de Avila, or
Juanita Rodriguez de Avila, (dropping her maternal last name) or
Juanita Avila

(Notice the 'de' -- it indicates that a last name by marriage follows.)

I would file this way:

de Avila, Juanita Rodriguez Perez, or
de Avila, Juanita Rodriguez, or
de Avila, Juanita
Avila, Juanita

(the 'de' should be ignored when alphabetizing -- so they all go under 'A' for Avila when filing)

By the way, if Juanita and Roberto have a child, Ernesto, his name becomes Ernesto Avila Rodriguez.

Avila Rodriguez, Ernesto
Avila, Ernesto

So filing under the First Last Name is usually a safe bet, except in the case where you see a Last Name preceded by a 'de'. Then you file under the 'de' last name.

Answer 2

Last Names In Alphabetical Order

Answer 3

Filing by the first of two hyphenated last names is sometimes used for the first year after a woman marries, while the transition is made to her married last name. In three years if you look for Linda Susan Morgan-Smith, she may only be using Smith for a last name...so if you had her filed under "Morgan" you may never find that record again

Answer 4

How To File Alphabetically

Answer 5

According to the initial letter of the first of the surnames.

Edit - I respectfully suggest that when someone adopts a hyphenated sur(family) name, they are changing the sur/family name and not adopting an additional middle name.
Goldman Sachs is neither Goldman nor Sachs -it is Goldman Sachs and is filed under "G".

Answer 6

By Smith, then the rest!.
EDITIn the case you show, the one with the hyphen would come first!

Answer 7

You might want to check with the company rules on this but I would say that they're both filed under Smith, Anna.

Answer 8

Hernandez Cruz and Hernandez-Constantino