# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**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, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/41 "2023-07-24T10:19:41Z")
Good point, we share the name. I phrased it like that because she’s the one who does this to me. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/42 "2023-07-24T10:32:56Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > 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. Doctors are a somewhat unique profession in that even now, few people at work calls them by their first name - both patients and staff refer to them as “Dr. Lastname”. It makes sense that other doctors would start doing the same, while dropping the Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/43 "2023-07-25T13:58:27Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > 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. We had one teacher who did this. So, to this day, there’s a handful of schoolmates whose first names I don’t know. And, yes, we’d say hi to each other with “Missster Shhhanahan, how are you today?” “Quite well, Missster Diggerrrby!” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/44 "2023-07-25T14:13:43Z")
To me, being referred by Lastname only would sound rude. At work, everyone is first name. If someone came up to me at work and said “Lastname, can you do this?” I’d be "why are you being so jerkassed? I guess I got it growing up. There were like 15 Mikes in my HS graduating class, but everyone was just Mike, unless it wasn’t clear (and it usually was). With all the siblings in school, just using last name was actually more confusing (especially for those whose parents were also teachers.) > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Would it help if you had a headcanon where Spenser’s full name was “Spenser Spenser”? His full name is Spenser S. Spenser. What does the S stand for? Benoit B Mandelbrot ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/45 "2023-07-25T16:47:30Z")
One of my first girlfriends went by her last name. She didn’t like her first name. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2023, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/46 "2023-07-25T23:58:55Z")
In college, a lot of us were called just by our last names (or a nickname based on our last names, e.g. “Mac” for “McGill,” that kind of thing). This was true even when there was no need to distinguish between people with the same first name. In fact, among my friend group there were two brothers, who of course had different first names. We did not call either one by their first names, however. Instead, the older one was “Smith the Greater,” and his younger brother was “Smith the Lesser.” We were a hilarious bunch. Edited to add: It’s too bad I hadn’t seen “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” at that point. Otherwise I would have suggested “Smith Primus” and “Smith Secondus.” ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/47 "2023-07-27T06:04:02Z")
My last name is a small furry animal, so I’ve always been called by that name, or something similar, think Wolfe or Wolfie. ---
**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 27, 2023, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/48 "2023-07-27T08:05:17Z")
Its used as a term of familiarity. If you’re not familiar with the person, it sounds rude. Lotion ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/49 "2023-07-28T22:37:05Z")
True. You’ve got to earn Last Name Rights with me… ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/50 "2023-08-02T15:27:32Z")
I’m a comics guy. And while there are multiple Lees and Moores, there is one definitive Kirby, Ditko, Steranko, Crumb and Frazetta. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377/51 "2023-08-02T16:53:24Z")
If you went to a Catholic school during the Boomer years, you may have had ten or more Marys in your class (not to mention Mary Ann, Mary Catherine, Mary Elizabeth, etc.) As early as first grade the girls started calling each other by their last names, and the boys followed along. When my mother was a nurse, I noticed that all the nurses in the hospital called each other by their last names. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/called-by-last-name/987377.md?page=2)