Does anyone still call their friends by their last name?

[charlie and algernon]

Or was that just a 90s thing? Or just an elementary/high school thing?

I saw Jurassic Park 3D, which originally came out in 1993, again last night and noticed that everyone calls each other by their last name and rarely by their first.

Now, at least with my group of friends, we only call each other by our first names. Even at work, the only people that get mentioned by their last name are the two guys with the same first name.

Growing up in the 90s, it was all last names. "Where's Davis?" "Hey, Smith, get over here..." etc.

So have we gotten over calling people by their last names? Or is that still done amongst groups of friends?

[Aristus]

1. I call my friends by their first names all the time. And I did back in the 90's, too.

Even when I was in the Army. I read somewhere that in the military, referring to a friend or comrade by his first name reveals an "uncommon intimacy" - I think that was the term the author used. I think that is wrong-headed. I called my friend Dennis "Dennis", and I called my friend Eddie "Eddie". Not sure why someone would have a problem with that.

[charlie and algernon]

2. not saying anyone had a problem with calling them by their first names

calling each other by our last names was just what we did. I don't know, maybe it was just a grade school thing.

[sarge43]

6. I got into an argument with a chief once

He was contending he was being a good guy because he addressed his subordinates by their first names. I countered that on duty and/or in uniform they were due the respect to the rank they had earned. Off duty among friends, way different situation.

Unless we're joking around, can't imagine not calling friends by their first names.

[Xyzse]

3. Odd, I thought that was more of an Asian thing

I didn't know that was a trend in the US during the 90s.

Going off like, Kim-nim, Watanabe-san, Lee-qiánbeì

I thought that using last names in an Occidental culture was more for group speak. Like, when in a class or something, where it is usually a teacher or an elder calling someone over.

[RevStPatrick]

4. A 90's thing?

We totally did that in the 70's too.
And now that you mention it, I haven't done that in years!

I do, however, notice that people will call friends by their full names, sort of Russian style.
For example, the other night I said to a friend "Hey John Benjamin Smith, wanna go get a drink?"
That seems to happen a lot...

[Art_from_Ark]

31. We did that in the '70s as well

although it was mainly "boy" thing. Call another guy "Smith", it's cool. Call him "John" in front of other boys, not cool (unless one used his full name to distinguish him from another Smith). If girls were called only by their last name by boys, it was a sign of disrespect (unfortunately, I discovered this when it was too late).

[geardaddy]

5. Only a few.

They're my high school friends.

[MiddleFingerMom]

7. The onliest person to ever refer to me by my first, middle AND last names was (occasionally)...

.
.
.
... MiddleFingerMomMom... and then I knew the shit was about to hit the fan.
.
.
.

[Populist_Prole]

8. I can tell you it goes back way before the 90's; but my friends and me never did.

In the 70's you would hear acquaintances often referred to by last names, but among friends: Never. Too brusque and unfriendly. In fact when you heard acquaintances or friends of a friend referred to by last name it was usually in a derogatory or mocking way.

At work it's considered rude and officious and it's mostly first names when one addresses one other; That, or their first and last names. A few ex-military native southerners in supervisory positions are the only ones that I hear call or refer to others by only their last names and it comes across as high handed and officious, especially since we've known each other for 20+ years. I get them feeling a little sheepish when I politely but firmly remind them I have a first name.

[femmocrat]

9. Not friends, but co-workers.

Well, the gym teacher actually. LOL

[bigwillq]

10. Everyone calls me a variation of my last name

Sometimes I call my friends by their last name.

[graywarrior]

11. No one has ever been able to pronounce my last name

[nomorenomore08]

15. I got that too, as a kid. And it's only 6 letters!

[graywarrior]

19. Ha!

12 in mine including r's, z's & y's

[nomorenomore08]

20. So I assume you're some variety of Eastern European...

I'm mostly Scottish, but a quarter Lithuanian, and that quarter of me is how I got my weird last name. I could've been a Calhoun or a MacFarlane, but nooo...

[graywarrior]

21. Polish

Apparently, my last name indicates royalty....hahahahahahahahaha! My mother's father changed his Italian name, so her last name means nothing.

[nomorenomore08]

23. Well I assume my name is "Americanized" - i.e. they chopped off the last several letters.

Which is fine with me, since people have had enough trouble pronouncing the damn thing, as is!

[graywarrior]

24. I always know I'm next in the doctor's office

They look confused looking at my name. lol

[trof]

25. Gurzskyvitch? Is that you?

[graywarrior]

26. NO!

I'm Duckzyrysymkowski

[olddots]

12. I never called people by their last names

why did everyone refer to me as " hey shit for brains " ?

[Spike89]

13. Situationally, some friends by last name, others always the first

I have a couple relatively large groups of male friends (a poker group and a softball team) that have been together for a few decades. A couple of guys often use last names, but rarely directly. Before "Joe Smith" shows up, the guys might say "Where's Smith?" when he arrives the same guys may say "Hey Joe, glad you made it".

In fact, when talking about someone, the last name is the most common. A couple guys have "nicknames" based on their last name (Brownie for a guy with the last name Brown, the Flaggster for Flagg) They are the exception--guys will address them directly by the nickname.

[Callmecrazy]

14. Most people use both of mine...

and I'm cool with it. With a common first name (Michael) I am often called by a cool and catchy and tough sounding last name (Rocco). I walk in and hear Rock-OOOOOO! No mistaking that. And the name suits me.

[KamaAina]

16. Yo, Algernon! 'Sup?

[benld74]

17. Our group WAY back in high school called each other by our dad's 1st name or nickname

not really sure how that got started. But I would bet if some of us got together long enough again, it would begin once more,,,,

[warrior1]

18. Almost everyone always call me by my last name

and I'm a woman. I never got that. I never did it to anyone else so I'm at a loss why it happened so often to me.

[truegrit44]

35. That is odd

I've heard it a lot but only with men.......

[Recursion]

22. My old friends from the military

We still do that. I'm not sure I even know half of their first names.

[Jeff R]

27. Only when there is more than one

with the same first name.
I grew up in a time when last names got people in trouble.
Old habits die hard. Still use first names and always have.

[HeiressofBickworth]

28. At a law firm I worked at

one of the partners had the same first name as mine so everyone called me by my last name (a very short word with only 4 letters).

I have a friend who calls me by my last name -- she has three other friends with my same first name so it makes sense. She also refers to herself by her last name, so I do the same.

I never thought about it as being a cultural differentiation -- it's just what worked in these two instances.

[Smarmie Doofus]

29. Interesting. I always thought it was a working class thing and especially male.

If you watch the original Honeymooners episodes ( 1955-ish) Ralph NEVER calls Ed Norton "Ed"; *never*. He exclusively calls him "Norton." I always thought of this as a sort of put down. That it was Ralph's way of asserting dominance in the relationship ... even though Ed is by far his best friend in the world.

Similarly... lowly privates in the army are... or used to be... addressed by their drill instructor by last names only... minus of course the honorific or rank. In other words never Private Jones, Private Smith.... always "Jones", "Smith". The idea was to promote intimidation and establish dominance and hierarchy.

For this reason I never called my friends by their last names, except tongue in cheek. Now, in the working world there's a different protocol that prevails. One calls a close coworker ( a peer) by their first name.; last name w. honorific if not so close. Now when talking about someone at the workplace ... TO someone else at the workplace ... it is /was quite common to refer to the absent person by the last name only. This did not necessarily imply any dislike or disrespect.

In fact... in context it could signify the opposite. If you were told to send something up to , say, "Liebowitz", that meant Liebowitz , male or female, was known by all, did not have to be further identified and was a *fixture*. In other words, had gravitas.

[Turbineguy]

30. At school we did.

Then years later, there's a certain shared intimacy to it.

[AsahinaKimi]

32. I have a friend in Taiwan

Her first name is ChunYing. Her last name is Lin. We call her "Limi" as a cute nick name, but originally she wanted us to call her Lin. So we still do. She calls me Kimi.. though I have had people call me "Asa" or "Asahina" but I always tell them to call me Kimi or Kimiko. Its their choice to add "san" or "chan" or I may suggest it, as in "kimi chan" or "Kimiko san".

We (my friends) and I love Lin.. so were happy she is happy with "limi".. The other thing is, one of my friends has the name Sandy. Lin calls her "Sany". We always wondered who stole the "d"..Lin doesn't seem to know; "Maybe its under Sany's bed?"

[ashling]

33. Is this post just for people that still have friends, or can anybody play

I don't know what happened to mine ... I called them by their last names and, well ...

[RiffRandell]

34. Stifler by his "American Pie" buddies. n/t

[dr.strangelove]

36. I have been calling my group of close friends by their last names since the 70s

But at work I call everyone by their first name except the two people with the same first name. We refer to both of them by their last names.