# Do British kids really call each other by their last name like in Harry Potter **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691 "2010-06-27T17:28:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/21 "2010-06-27T20:03:00Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > Piss-take rather than piss-up > (piss take = mocking, piss up = getting drunk) > > From my school in the UK we generally called each other by surname or some variation of you surname except for close friends where it would be first name or nickname. Yep, piss-take makes sense. (I’m English too). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/22 "2010-06-27T20:09:48Z")
I think the habit comes as a hangover from Victorian formality. If you read Jennings or the Molesworth books, it is exclusively [surnames](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Molesworth#Major_characters) that are exclusively used; in the case of siblings, they’d be referred to as “minor” and “major”. By the time my education came along (70s/80s) as well as the state school system, things had become less formal. That said, there was still a high degree of surname usage at my school anyway. All the better if one’s surname rhymed even vaguely with something rude. Not sure what the situation is these days. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/23 "2010-06-27T20:14:44Z")
As any fule kno, I should not have used “exclusively” twice. Chiz. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/24 "2010-06-27T20:36:16Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > At Christian Brothers High School in Memphis in the late 80s, calling one another by last name wasn’t an unusual thing. At Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento in the early 80s, calling one another by last name wasn’t an unusual thing. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/25 "2010-06-27T20:36:25Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Ditto for me. Ditto ditto. Being called by your last name at my all-boys high school was the default choice. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/26 "2010-06-27T20:44:16Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > My doctor friend went there in the 60s with the much hated Cybil Sheppard. I thought it was a girl’s school. Are you really a girl Skald? You’re confusing it with Immaculate Conception, I think. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/27 "2010-06-27T20:44:16Z")
It was fairly frequent in my American high school in the late 80s/early 90s–even a couple of girls were often called by their last names (usually by guy friends, and they were all named Jennifer). I was interested in/dated 3 different guys named Dave in my senior year, I should probably have called them by their last names. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/28 "2010-06-27T20:46:52Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Malfoy calls all the Gryffindors by their surnames. And the Gryffindors the Slytherins. Maybe they only use surnames for their enemies. I don’t know if it’s only for _enemies_, but in the Harry Potter books it does seem more common among children who aren’t actually friends. I don’t think Harry ever calls Ron and Hermione “Weasley” and “Grainger”, and I believe he was on a first-name basis with all the other Gryffindors in his year. Draco may call his pals Crabbe and Goyle by their last names though, I can’t remember. > [@scifisam2009](#): > > IME it’s common in public schools (though less so than it used to be), and fairly common among boys in ordinary schools - like others said, it was a practical way of distinguishing between the different Daves, Steves and Pauls - but unusual among girls. This reflects my experience in American public (state) schools – it was fairly common among teenage boys but rare among girls. I knew one girl in college (er, university, and a private one FWIW) who was frequently called by her last name, but she was one of many “Sarahs” and had an unusual but short and easy to pronounce last name. Where I work there’s also one woman who’s often called by her last name alone, and again she has a common first name but a short, distinctive last name. The only other times I can remember hearing girls called by their surnames was the athletes at my college. I assume that’s at least in part because it’s their last names and not their first names that are printed on their jerseys. But, as **eleanorigby** says, people who weren’t on their team usually called these girls by their first names. > [@eleanorigby](#): > > My daughter (now a sophomore in college) was called by her last name on the field hockey team (even as captain), but not by people who were not hockey players. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/29 "2010-06-27T21:58:50Z")
Crabbe and Goyle are their last names, and that is what Malfoy calls them ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/30 "2010-06-27T22:31:24Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I don’t know if it’s only for _enemies_, but in the Harry Potter books it does seem more common among children who aren’t actually friends. I don’t think Harry ever calls Ron and Hermione “Weasley” and “Grainger”, and I believe he was on a first-name basis with all the other Gryffindors in his year. [nitpick]Granger[/nitpick]. It’s not even just his own year, or Gryffindors - the handful of friendly characters we know from other years and houses - granted, there’s a lot of Weasleys in that group - are all first name with the main crew, too - Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, the Creevey brothers, Luna, Cho, etc, are all first-name. IIRC, going back to the sports thing, the other Quiddich players call Harry and Ron ‘Potter’ and ‘Weasley’, too. The teachers, and hostile characters…I concur with the ‘formality’ for the teachers, and ‘exaggerated formality’ for the hostiles. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/31 "2010-06-27T22:33:15Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > Crabbe and Goyle are their last names, and that is what Malfoy calls them Draco’s Crabbe and Goyle’s boss - he’s just enforcing that with the formality. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/32 "2010-06-27T22:42:28Z")
I was regularly called by my three syllable surname in school, lots of Mcs and O’s were. Lynches became Lynchy, Hinches became Hinchy etc. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/33 "2010-06-27T22:57:42Z")
When I was a teenager in Northwestern Ontario in the 70s, it was rather common among male peers. Girls were addressed by their first names, unless one was mad at them, in which case you would use their last name, assumably to no longer “treat them like a lady”, I guess. If you ever saw _To Sir With Love_, note that Sidney Portier called his male students by their last names, and the female ones “Miss (Whatever)”; among the students the guys called each other by their last names or nicknames and called the girls by their first names. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/34 "2010-06-27T23:10:02Z")
My group in school were Lawless, Macker(he was a Mc), Comerford and Lynchy. I was also know by my surname. In fact I can only think of one guy in the class that was known by his first name and that was because he shared his surname with two more popular people. ETA: All the teachers generally refered to us by surname in normal everyday talk. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/35 "2010-06-27T23:19:57Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > If you ever saw _To Sir With Love_, note that Sidney Portier called his male students by their last names, and the female ones “Miss (Whatever)”; among the students the guys called each other by their last names or nicknames and called the girls by their first names. [irrelevant anecdote] I used to teach at the school that that book and film were based on.[/ia] ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/36 "2010-06-27T23:55:03Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I think the habit comes as a hangover from Victorian formality. If you read Jennings or the Molesworth books, it is exclusively [surnames](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Molesworth#Major_characters) that are exclusively used; in the case of siblings, they’d be referred to as “minor” and “major”. And of course the Harry Potter books do owe a lot to the Jennings/Molesworth/St Trinian’s books. They paint a sort of nostalgic 1950s picture of Britain. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/37 "2010-06-28T01:00:27Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Draco’s Crabbe and Goyle’s boss - he’s just enforcing that with the formality. I first thought that too, but then I couldn’t remember their first names ever being used or given in the books. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/38 "2010-06-28T01:10:30Z")
As another anecdote point, some of us in high school called each other by their last names, some people did it only some of the time, but _everybody_ called me by my last name. Even the teachers started doing it too. It got to the point that about the only person left who called me by my first name was an ex-sorta-girlfriend, and so if I heard someone say my first name, I didn’t even bother responding because they must have been looking for someone else. As for England, I usually didn’t hear that when I was at Oxford. Then again, I was at Jesus College, which has a high proportion of Welsh students. It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that 90% of Welsh people are surnamed Jones, Thomas, Williams, or Price. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/39 "2010-06-28T01:44:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yep. 34 here, and very common. Especially when 4 of your circle of friends are all named “Dave.” Hi, I’m older (52), my name is Dave. Not uncommon, even today at work I’m usually called by my last name. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/40 "2010-06-28T02:09:24Z")
Again, I’m American and this was common for me growing up. We kind of mixed it up, though. Harry, Ron, and Hermione call each other by their first names, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691.md?page=3)