# Called by last name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [July 22, 2023, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377 "2023-07-22T08:22:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/21 "2023-07-23T04:50:01Z")
Yep, that’s the exact situation we had: an embarrassment of Riches. One had a last name of Walker, and was quiet; another was quite voluble, and would say, “He’s Walker, I’m talker”. But he wasn’t known as Talker–he was known by his last name almost exclusively, even after most of the other Riches had moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/22 "2023-07-23T05:21:25Z")
I can’t confirm this but I’ve read that Abraham Lincoln disliked his first name (including the diminutive Abe). His family and friends called him Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/23 "2023-07-23T11:48:44Z")
If true, an interesting instance of a first name being more used by the general public than by intimates, since Lincoln supporters frequently referred to him by the nicknames “Father Abraham” and “Honest Abe”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/24 "2023-07-23T15:03:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I can’t confirm this but I’ve read that Abraham Lincoln disliked his first name (including the diminutive Abe). His family and friends called him Lincoln. I think this is correct. He did sign his name “A.Lincoln” ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/25 "2023-07-23T15:41:07Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > A guy at work goes by a shortened version of his last name. Without giving the real name, I will use Spencer. > His real name is John Spencer. He goes by Spence. He is generally referred to as Spence Spencer. You know Spence, too?? (I’m assuming it’s a different guy, but our Spence was one of three or four “Johns” in our larger group of friends. I haven’t seen him in decades, but he’s certainly retirement age now.) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/26 "2023-07-23T17:35:05Z")
If a tv show is considered fiction, they do that on tv a lot. Like ‘House’. He’s never called Greg. ‘Cuddy’ is never Lisa, ‘Chase’ is never ‘Robert’, and so it goes ‘Thirteen’ doesn’t even have a name! (Remy Hadley, but you’d never know it.)…I wonder if they continue with the last names at home, after hours, after they hook up? (and it helps if the last names are one syllable, or not outlandish and long). ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/27 "2023-07-23T17:59:10Z")
At grammar school in the UK 50 years ago, we pupils were addressed by the teachers using our last names. We found this amusing, so we sometimes called each other by last names as well, ironically. 50 years later I still see some of those guys, and still do it, although the novelty has worn off a bit. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/28 "2023-07-23T18:04:11Z")
> [@salinqmind1](#): > > If a tv show is considered fiction, they do that on tv a lot. Like ‘House’. He’s never called Greg. ‘Cuddy’ is never Lisa, ‘Chase’ is never ‘Robert’, and so it goes ‘Thirteen’ doesn’t even have a name! (Remy Hadley, but you’d never know it.)…I wonder if they continue with the last names at home, after hours, after they hook up? (and it helps if the last names are one syllable, or not outlandish and long). Among the groups of doctors I work with, that’s how we refer to each other when using the third person. Jones is his PCP. Garza ordered a CBC last night while on call. That sort of thing. In person we use first names. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/29 "2023-07-23T18:22:03Z")
I believe this is a British thing that the Americans adopted. Last names were the form in which all students were referred to, both by teachers and other students, at least on the playing fields of Eton. And what else counted? The form was continue throughout adulthood. In the Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes is always referred to as Holmes, except by his brother, and Watson is always referred to as Watson, except by his wife, who called him James. Yes, that’s true. Look it up. Doyle forget what Watson’s first name was. He was a hack writer of the worst kind. Moriarty was given the first name James, and so was his brother. (We only refer to John H. Watson because it’s on the dispatch box where he keeps his manuscripts.) In later British mysteries, Hercule Poirot is always referred to as Poirot. Dr. Gideon Fell always by Fell. Gervase Fen by Fen. (Thankfully). Nero Wolfe is always Wolfe, except for a few close friends. Archie is a servant. Perry Mason is always Mason, except for a few close friends. And the model Robert Parker took from was Richard Stark, a pseudonym of Donald Westlake, who called his no-first-name hero Parker. How could Parker not? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/30 "2023-07-23T18:54:02Z")
I could certainly see that! (‘Bob ordered a CBC…’) Bob? Bob who? the attending/intern/nurse/lab tech? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/31 "2023-07-23T19:54:33Z")
I just watched _Spotlight_, and the real life person played by Michael Keaton was always called Robby – his full name was Walter Robinson. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/32 "2023-07-23T22:20:55Z")
I’m not sure it was ever made known if Parker on Leverage was the character’s first or last name. I don’t believe she was ever given another name. In kind of the same vein, the character played by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (with the iconic scene of her standing on the subway grate with her skirt blowing) didn’t have a name at all. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/33 "2023-07-24T00:39:03Z")
My point was that in many fields that is just how one refers to colleagues in the third person. So, we speak of the Michelson–Morley Experiment, not Al & Ted, and we talk about Darwinian evolution, not Flycatcher’s (supposedly Darwin had many colourful nicknames…) ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/34 "2023-07-24T00:47:32Z")
Cameron and Masters, too. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/35 "2023-07-24T00:55:59Z")
Huh, I can’t think of anyone I’ve known that is known mainly by their last name. My cousin refers to himself sometimes by his last name, maybe that came from working in kitchens. Regarding going by last names when you’re one of many sharing a first name - I’m one of several Jessicas in several friend groups and none of us have ever gone by last names. Possibly because there’s enough nicknames for Jessica to go around (in second grade we had 3 Jessica B’s so I became JJ. There was also Jessica and Jessi) ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/36 "2023-07-24T01:21:32Z")
I’ve known people who are called by their last name by _almost_ everyone - because usually the spouse/lover/partner ,and possibly a very old friend is an exception. That exception doesn’t just apply to last names - I had a high school boyfriend who started to go by “Joe” at some point after we got together and eventually , only his best friend and I called him by his actual name “Giovanni”. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/37 "2023-07-24T03:12:13Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > If true, an interesting instance of a first name being more used by the general public than by intimates, since Lincoln supporters frequently referred to him by the nicknames “Father Abraham” and “Honest Abe”. It’s interesting how many presidents didn’t use the first name they were born with: Gerald Ford (Leslie), Dwight Eisenhower (David), Calvin Coolidge (John), Woodrow Wilson (Thomas), Grover Cleveland (Stephen), and Ulysses Grant (Hiram). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/38 "2023-07-24T03:17:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s interesting how many presidents didn’t use the first name they were born with: Yeah, I wonder how it stacks up statistically against the percentage of men in the general population who use a different first name from their officially bestowed one. There is apparently a school of thought that holds [it’s a more common practice in the American South.](https://www.countryliving.com/life/a41490/going-by-middle-name-southern-tradition/#) ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/39 "2023-07-24T09:47:00Z")
My wife sometimes calls me by my last name. It’s just an odd little term of endearment. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/40 "2023-07-24T10:02:00Z")
> [@TwoCarrotSnowman](#): > > My wife sometimes calls me by my last name. It’s just an odd little term of endearment. ⁢ Is it her last name, too? Or just yours? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377.md?page=3)