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Hi, does any body know the difference between surmane and last name? I recently read a biography in which the person's surname and lastname were mentioned separately.

Surname – A family name; in western cultures the “last name”.

Can you tell me who's biography?

This is just a thought. In the good old days, when you had to fill a form, you were asked to give your "Christian Name/s" and your "Surname". This was later changed to "First Name", "Other Names", and "Last Name".  As already mentioned, in some cultures, the  surname which denotes the family or ancestral name may not necessarily be the last name.

Thanks a lot for the information. The biography I talked about is about Yasmin Paige, the british actress who plays as Petrova in 'ballet shoes'. according to the biography her surname is El-Iraqi and her lastname is Paige.

Is Yasmin Paige her performing name or her birth name?

Well, It seems that her name is registered as Yasmin El-Iraki but in her filmography and movie casts, she is refered to as Yasmin paige.

AH !!

But sometimes the Surname Can Be the last name, isn't ??

Surname is always the last name. Same thing. Maybe they are trying to say that her real surname is 'El-Iraki' but she used the 'stage name' Paige. Many actors have a stage name, as we all know. John Wayne was really Marion Morrison, right? Here in North America, we used to say Christian name, as Nu said, but now it is 'first name' and then family name, surname or last name. 

Biographies sometimes say, "she was born as Yasmin El-Iraki" which means that this is her real name.  Then they might say"she took the name Paige, later in her career" to mean that she is now Yasmin Paige.