# A Buffy question...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 16, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187 "2002-07-16T04:53:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/1 "2002-07-16T04:53:00Z")
I’m a big fan of BtVS (although I haven’t been able to watch it in a while) but one thing has always bugged me. Why does everyone call Giles Giles? Isn’t that his last name? Why don’t they call him Rupert or _Mr._ Giles?
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### Author:  [@leechbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leechbabe)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/2 "2002-07-16T05:09:15Z")
I always assumed it was one of those things to emphasis how British he is. IMHO its a very British thing to refer to a person only by their surname.
BTW - noticed you are a fellow Aussie, welcome to the SDMB and feel free to visit other Aussie and NZ dopers at this [site](http://www4.tpgi.com.au/brownlee/) and this [board](http://pub31.ezboard.com/bgdope) 🙂
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### Author:  [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/3 "2002-07-16T05:17:46Z")
His name is Rupert Giles.
They do actually call him Mr. Giles at the start (Tara only called him Mr. Giles, IIRC) but in the course of the first season switch over. I think it was just to carry a certain balance of personal and formal.
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### Author:  [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/4 "2002-07-17T07:48:15Z")
In the third season episode “The Wish”, when alternaBuffy first meets alternaGiles, there is a snippet of conversation in which aBuffy says “Look, Jeeves…” and he corrects her by saying “Giles”. I more or less subconsciously assumed that’s how it happened in the “real” universe, and that calling him “Giles” was a play on “Jeeves”, and his Britishness. But on re-watching season 1 I saw it didn’t happen that way.
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### Author:  [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/5 "2002-07-17T12:52:25Z")
I think **andygirl** has it. It’s a familiarity thing. Plus, let’s face it, for an American teenager these days, “Giles” is as likely to be a first name as “Rupert.”
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/6 "2002-07-17T15:26:03Z")
Shoot, this season I forgot for a short time that Giles was his last name! Spike’s quote from **Tabula Rasa** confused the hell out of me, because I read it out of context before I ever saw the episode. “Randy Giles? Why not call me ‘Horney’ Giles, or ‘Desperate for a Shag’ Giles? I knew there was a reason I hated you!”
He’s not the only one who is referred to by the last name. Sometimes Spike calls Buffy “Summers”. Must be a British thing…
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/7 "2002-07-18T23:52:35Z")
Also, Buffy referred to Billy Fordham as “Ford,” & he called her “Summers.” Sometimes it goes that way.
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### Author:  [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/8 "2002-07-19T03:27:14Z")
Same reason you say “MacGyver.”
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### Author:  [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/9 "2002-07-19T04:24:37Z")
…and to think all this time I thought Giles was his first name…
…but then again I didn’t start watching “Buffy” on a regular basis until last season :eek: (and yes, I’ve caught many of the reruns !)
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### Author:  [@Tradnor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tradnor)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/10 "2002-07-19T05:29:58Z")
Buffy’s mom calls him “Mr. Giles”.
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### Author:  [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/11 "2002-07-19T12:20:58Z")
Buffy’s mom is _dead_! Bwa ha ha!!!
[sub]Sorry, y’all. No coffee yet.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/12 "2002-07-19T15:30:35Z")
It’s just a slang thing. I’ve got a friend we all call “Dembeck”-- his last name, because his first name is Mike, and dammit, there are just too many Mikes in the world.
We’ve even got his own family calling him Dembeck 😃
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/13 "2002-07-19T15:40:56Z")
Oh, also they call Oz “Oz” and his first name is Daniel. His last name is Osbourne.
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### Author:  [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/14 "2002-07-19T15:54:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \*
> \*\*
> He’s not the only one who is referred to by the last name. Sometimes Spike calls Buffy “Summers”. Must be a British thing… \*\*
Well, you have to love it whenever Snyder calls her “Summers.” He snarls it, in such despicable archvillain-cadence where it’s like the mere linking together of letters in such a fashion absolutely disgusts him.
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### Author:  [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/15 "2002-07-19T16:20:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tradnor \*
> \*\*Buffy’s mom calls him “Mr. Giles”. \*\*
At first, yes. Probably after the “Band Candy” incident, they started addressing one another by their first names.
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### Author:  [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/16 "2002-07-19T17:15:18Z")
The late Jenny Calender called him Rupert as well.
Hmmm…everyone who calls him by his first name dies!:eek:
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### Author:  [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/17 "2002-07-19T18:46:29Z")
Only the improbably attractive older women who call him by his first name. Ethan Rayne called him “Rupert” all the time.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/18 "2002-07-19T19:21:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Only the improbably attractive older women who call him by his first name. Ethan Rayne called him “Rupert” all the time.
So… Ethan Rayne is an improbably attractive older woman?
Or did you mean “Ripper?”
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### Author:  [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/19 "2002-07-19T21:27:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Miller \*
> \*\*
>
> So… Ethan Rayne is an improbably attractive older woman?
>
> Or did you mean “Ripper?” \*\*
I think he meant that only improbably attractive older women will die as a result of calling Giles “Ruper,” since Ethan is still very much alive.
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### Author:  [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-buffy-question/119187/20 "2002-07-19T22:04:47Z")
Actually, I think I remember Angel and Spike calling him “Rupert” as well, but they were already “dead” at the time.
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