Born in north-east Spain (3)
I believe the answer is:
nee
'born' is the definition.
('nee' is 'born' in French)
'in north-east spain' is the wordplay.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'north east' becomes 'ne'.
'spain' becomes 'e' (abbreviation for Espana).
'ne' placed around 'e' is 'NEE'.
(Other definitions for nee that I've seen before include "Born (female)" , "Adjective used to indicate woman's maiden name" , "Prefix indicating maiden name before marriage" , "Born as (French)" , "Born in France" .)