# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/41 "2010-06-28T02:18:45Z")
My son went to grade school with 6 Jasons. For some reason they were all Jason S or Jason Y or whatever. Apparently their teacher instituted this, for sanity reasons. ONE teacher in high school (60s) called us by our last names. He was an old dude who tried valiantly to teach us maths. an seanchai ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/42 "2010-06-28T02:22:33Z")
> [@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. Yeah, I was familiar with “taking the piss” and “piss-take” but they really did call them piss-ups. It doesn’t make sense and perhaps it was unique to my school. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/43 "2010-06-28T02:29:10Z")
What’s weird is that my daughter calls her husband by his last name. I can’t figure that one out except that he is a soldier and he and his buddies call each other by their last names. I call my son-in-law by a nickname I’ve given him: Dipstick. (Which, by the way is not to disrespect his honorable service to our country. It’s just that he is, well, a Dipstick.) ---
**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:** [June 28, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/44 "2010-06-28T02:29:30Z")
In my school, it was mostly popular amongst the football players. It seemed to me like a manly thing. Their girlfriends would call them by their first names, but everyone else used their last names, unless they had a nickname that was better. Heck, the only reason my football player friends didn’t address me by last name is that my first name is a lastname, and my last name is a girl’s first name. We also did do it to distinguish people with the same first name, but only with guys. Like I said, it seemed like a manly thing. With women, we stuck with the old First Name Last Initial method. ---
**Author:** ![FrustratedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@FrustratedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrustratedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/45 "2010-06-28T02:38:18Z")
Very common in the South (especially if you have an uncommon surname) in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/46 "2010-06-28T03:58:07Z")
It was the norm for me, in British State Schools in the 1960s. Actually, the use of surnames vs. first names acted as some sort of marker of maturity (and masculinity). As I recall, somewhere towards the end of junior school (i.e., at around age 10) we boys (but not the girls) began to shift toward addressing each other by last names instead of first, although the teachers still continued to use our first names. Then in high school, it was last names exclusively, both from the teachers and amongst the boys themselves (although nicknames, often based on the last name, would also often be used amongst ones peers). I went to an all boys high school, so I do not know for sure how things went in the girls high school, but my impression is that in our “sister” all-girls high school, both the girls and the teachers when addressing them continued to use first names in most contexts. (I am not sure how they managed in co-educational schools.) But, towards the end of high school, we boys (though not the teachers) began to move toward addressing each other by first names once again. Presumably this in anticipation of taking on adult status, as the preemptive move to use of surnames in late junior school was to stake some sort of claim to the status of being “big kids,” proto-men (our father’s sons rather than our mother’s babies) rather than “little kids.” It is strange, though, that the transition to being actual men was marked by a shift back in the opposite direction (perhaps, though, it had something to do with wanting females back as a major part of out lives again). ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/47 "2010-06-28T05:26:06Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Yeah, I was familiar with “taking the piss” and “piss-take” but they really did call them piss-ups. It doesn’t make sense and perhaps it was unique to my school. Fair enough - sometimes very localised idioms don’t fit with the way the rest of the country uses it. Maybe one of the more popular kids at your school got it wrong and nobody wanted to say they were wrong, so it got passed down, or something like that. It’s still kinda amusing, though. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/48 "2010-06-28T09:06:23Z")
My SO and I have been together for (almost) 30 years - and I still call him by his last name when joking around or asking how much longer it will take for him to get his act together to go out of the house when I am waiting with the car keys in hand. Was also common to use last names in my high school and college in Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/49 "2010-06-28T09:46:02Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > they’re so silly Not really. Using last names was standard practice when I was at school in the 70s and 80s, and also when I worked at schools in the 90s. BTW The Major / Minor thing wasn’t limited to siblings: it was purely on order of entry to the school. And it typically went Maximus, Major, Minor, and Minimus. So Smith Maximus was not necessarily related to Smith Minor. As pupils left and new pupils came, you shifted up the order, so you might be Smith Minor one year and Smitth Maximus the next. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/50 "2010-06-28T09:54:54Z")
The teachers never used our surname (apart from PE teachers, who always used our surnames), but all boys addressed each other by their surnames or variants thereof. I was “Mully”, my best friend “Simmo”, another “Selby”, “Helly”, “Red”, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/51 "2010-06-28T10:10:33Z")
My school gym teacher used to refer to everyone as “YOU, boy!”, as in “YOU, boy(with that perfect hint of disdain that only a teacher can have for a child)! Quit that tomfoolery with the medicine balls or you’ll be running laps of the playing fields in detention!” I think most teachers in general called us by our surnames, but the pupils nearly always had a nickname, whether it was one they chose, or one they were given. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/52 "2010-06-28T10:59:06Z")
When I was growing up in the 70s it was common from about 3rd grade to 6th grade then it stopped. Little kids used to think it’s cool to use the last name. No one ever could pronounce my name so they always went back to Mark. “I Love Lucy” has an episode where Ricky and Lucy think it’s adorable that Lil’ Ricky and his friend call each other Ramsey and Ricardo. On Australia’s great soap opera _Prisoner_ (_Prisoner: Cell Block H_) you can always tell which prisoner likes another. If they’re friends they call each other by their first name and if they hate each other they use the last name. And all the warders were called Mr or Miss except Vera. I don’t know why but half the time even the prisoners would call her Vera instead of Miss Bennett ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/53 "2010-06-28T12:48:59Z")
My group of 43 students from grades 5 through 8 had four Evas, two Santis, two Miguel Ángeles (who also had identical first and second surnames, being double cousins and having stupid mothers), two Mícheles and four Francisco Javieres. There were more Migueles, Miguel Ángeles, Santis and Javis in the other four groups of the same year, with some 220 students total. My group of 80 students in college included a whooping 8 Jorges and Jordis. And two Danis. And three Javis. We used lastnames a lot and the occasional nickname, many of which were shortenings of lastnames. Mendi for Mendiburu, Urri for Urribarri, etc. It had nothing to do with sports or teachers, it was about knowing which of the four Evas were you talking about. Girls names tended to be more varied (the only repeats were the Evas; there were a lot of Mari-something and Ana-something but the somethings were always different), so girls were more likely to be named by their firstname. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/54 "2010-06-28T13:39:42Z")
Pakistani, used surnames and first names and nicknames. Teachers often used Mr/Miss \. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/55 "2010-06-28T13:53:15Z")
Not at all common when I was growing up here in NE Ohio in the Seventies. I went to a very Anglophilic prep school near Pittsburgh in the early Eighties, and we didn’t do it there, either. My sons are in public school now and, where there are several kids with the same first name, they’re often referred to by their first name and last initial (“Thomas S.,” “Thomas V.,” etc.) On the other hand, I’ve read that Abraham Lincoln didn’t like his first name all that much (and hated the nickname “Abe”), so his friends and colleagues called him by his last name. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/56 "2010-06-28T15:57:20Z")
English single-sex comprehensive state school in the 1970s - all pupils were known solely by their surnames (or nicknames, but not by staff) until, probably, about the Sixth Form (now Year 12 - the rising 17s). It was only the occasional written mention of a forename in the term report that convinced me that teachers even knew them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/57 "2010-06-28T17:01:11Z")
Even as an adult we still use people’s last names. We had an intern at the office that had the same first name as one of our engineers so we switched them both to surnames. Now the olderone yas left and the intern is an engineer with us but using he last ne has stuck. For some reason dispite having a short last name I’ve rarely had it used, typically I’ve called my by first name which only my sister shortens and dispite playig football all the way through college I’ve never picked up a Nick name that stuck more then a week. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/58 "2010-06-28T19:39:14Z")
Since my cadre had several people who shared the same first name (you’d be surprised how many Gagundathars I grew up with!) we typically either went with a nickname or our surnames. That has carried over to my lab experience where I am rarely called Gagundathar and more likely called Inexplicable (or rarely, Dr. Inexplicable). ---
**Author:** ![JerseyMarine2092](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8491ac/32.png) [@JerseyMarine2092](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerseyMarine2092)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/59 "2010-06-28T19:53:24Z")
I’ve essentially been going by my surname since people started using it some time in middle school. Lot less Barrys lying around than my first name. This started in the mid 90s in New Jersey. (The military thing doesn’t help so much really, either) ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-kids-really-call-each-other-by-their-last-name-like-in-harry-potter/544691/60 "2010-06-28T21:21:43Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > My SO and I have been together for (almost) 30 years - and I still call him by his last name when joking around or asking how much longer it will take for him to get his act together to go out of the house when I am waiting with the car keys in hand. > > Was also common to use last names in my high school and college in Illinois. Erich Segal uses this a lot. I remember it from _Love Story_ and _Doctors_ at least. [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=2) [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=4)