Quote Originally Posted by Helenej View Post
And a question for you. Which is more preferable in the US, the word "surname" or "last name"?

In the US most people use "last name". Surname sounds pretty formal to an American, and is used formally and informally in the UK depending on where you are there. Also rare but not necessarily unheard is "family name".

US English names in a nutshell in order of common usage (from my perspective, at least):
1. first name, given name, Christian name, forename (very unlikely to hear this in the US)
2. Middle name, second/third/etc name
3. Last name, surname, family name