Males and females kept the surnames that were given to them in the process I
described previously. There were exceptions. If the parents underwent a
civil marriage, they could appeal for a change in surname for their
children. The change was noted in the remarks column of the birth record,
along with the notation of the marriage record. I have seen this on
occasion in Western Galician records...can't speak about Eastern Galician
records which I have not worked with.

Generally, yes, one needs to factor in the strong possibility that children
carried the mother's name after 1880. The government crack down was
sporadic though. Some periods of time after that evidenced some slackening
in the policy and then another crack down would be evident. But, after
1890, it seems that there was a much stronger policy of not allowing the
father's name on the record and not even mentioning the father in the
remarks column.

Suzan Wynne
Kensington, MD