Examples of First-Name Basis in real life.
First-name basis by countries.
- America. To clarify, there are the basic 'Ms.', 'Mr.', and 'Mrs.', which are followed by the last name. These are generally used for strangers and when children are addressing a person they're unrelated to, such as a teacher. Otherwise, First-Name Basis is expected. If a last name is used, it can be interpreted as cold or rude. It's a little more complicated than this due to regional and professional standards (for instance, the famously stuffy legal profession has only started using first names as a standard among colleagues within the last 20–30 years, and in court and legal correspondence first names are still essentially banished unless there's a need to distinguish between two people with the same last name), but otherwise, it's fairly standard.
- Last names may also be used in friendly circumstances if multiple people in the group share the same first name. A combination of first, last and nicknames may also be fluidly applied depending on context.
- Parts of the American South add certain quirks regarding titles and last name basis best compared to Japanese Honorifics in the degree of nuance and social meaning tied to them. For instance, as a doctor with a small town practice, Alice might be very casual with her patients and staff, but it would be weird and possibly a sign of disrespect for someone to talk about 'Alice' rather than 'Dr. Alice'. Meanwhile, Bob might greet his good friend as "Mr. Stevens"—despite the fact that the warm greeting is followed by a Man Hug, it would be weird and presumptive to refer to his former teacher as 'Charlie'.
- While teachers are normally referred to as their last name, some students may say the teacher's first name behind their back as a sign of disrespect.
- The United Kingdom considers first names informal, and is a fair bit more last-name-intensive than the US. Ironically, though, this breaks down in the aristocracy. The monarch, of course, and several members of the Royal Family are not only referred to by their first names, but for formal purposes aren't even considered to have last names. (For other purposes, they'll use Windsor, Mountbatten-Windsor, or the place name of one of their titles, such as Wales or Wessex, but this is rare and is more of a stopgap than anything else.) Moreover, knights and dames, though they still have their last names, are properly addressed as Sir or Dame with their first name, not last; he's Sir Patrick Stewart on first reference and Sir Patrick afterwards, and to his face.
- In Scandinavia, being on first name basis is the standard.
- Likewise, at least in Finland, calling someone by their last name to their face often comes off as downright rude. You may refer to politicians, superiors or teachers by their last name when you're talking about them, but when you talk to them, you use either their title or their first name. If, for example, a teacher is known among the student population by their last name, chances are they're not very well-liked.
- Interestingly, in the schools, students pretty much always talk to and about their teachers using their last name (unless the teacher has a nickname, which isn't all that rare either). The teachers, however, call the students and each other by first name. This has even lead to a (usually new) teacher not knowing who a student means if they ask for someone and uses their last name.
- Likewise in the Finnish Armed Forces, the usual referral is by last name and second person majestic plural. For many conscripts, this usage feels very formal at best and downright hostile at worst.
- It's the same in Poland. It's also typical to refer to people that you work with but are not friends with as Mr/Ms/Mrs [First Name].
- If two Dutch meet each other for the first time, they will call each other by last name (unless they are under 25 or so, then they will be on a first name basis right away), but they will switch to first name basis really quick in most cases. Because the Dutch do much business with the Germans, (see below) this tends to lead to awkward situations.
- Similarly, in the Philippines, people often refer to each other by their first names, even when only meeting acquaintance, and use their last names only on certain, usually formal, occasions. Exceptions arise when there are people around with the same first name (which happens very often) and so are referred to by their nicknames or last names.
- Danish students call their teachers by first name all the way through the education system, sometimes not even knowing their teachers' last names. This started after the student protests in 1968.
- The one exception is when the last name itself counts as a nickname.
- There are various ways this works. In the Bothnian region along the Swedish-Finnish border, it's normal for people to refer to even their lifelong friends by only their surname (i.e. the name of the household), since the first name is seen to be of lesser value and generally of no interest or importance. Only between siblings are first names used, and even then only to avoid confusion.
- In Iceland, the last name is not a family name but a patronymic (or a matronymic) so it's not strictly a part of your name, it just tells people who your parent is, e.g. Björk Guðmundsdóttir. So, referring to Icelanders by last name only is flat out incorrect, no matter how formal you want to be. You'd call the prime minister by their first name rather than last. The correct way of being formal would be to use a title or a full name preceded by Mr/Madam, but Icelanders in general aren't very formal. Even first name basis can be too formal, as in some cases (especially with long first names) the informality of first name basis in other languages is instead replaced with shorter nicknames.
- Only a few people get around to be referred to by their first name in Norway, as the formal rule states that the family names will be used. Informally, though, the high ranking politicians (mostly the women) tend to be referred to this way. Thus, Norwegians tend to talk of "Gerhardsen" (Einar Gerhardsen), or "Stoltenberg" (former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg), but "Siv and Erna" (that is, the current Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister, Jensen and Solberg respectively). From early on, the titulation of Gro (Harlem Brundtland, first female Prime Minister) was common, and still is. Of non-political examples, the author Ingeborg Refling Hagen was referred to as just "A Ingeborg" by almost everyone — a sign of familiarity. For the record, only Alf Prøysen ("N Alf") got the same treatment.
- Likewise, at least in Finland, calling someone by their last name to their face often comes off as downright rude. You may refer to politicians, superiors or teachers by their last name when you're talking about them, but when you talk to them, you use either their title or their first name. If, for example, a teacher is known among the student population by their last name, chances are they're not very well-liked.
- Not only does the language French have different pronouns (Tu-Toi for close people, Vous for more formal relationships), the use of names is the subject of a peculiar etiquette: calling someone by their first name is normally reserved to friends and family, but calling someone by their family name without the proper honorific (Monsieur, Madame) is considered rude, except when there is a certain level of intimacy (for two colleagues, for instance) or hierarchy (such as a college professor addressing a student).
- It becomes even more confusing when you go into the written language: when writing about someone in French, you are supposed to use the full name basis without honorifics: for instance, a French journalist writing an article about the US president is supposed to use the Term "Barack Obama": "Obama" alone is tolerated but usually not considered respectful enough, and "Monsieur Obama" is actually considered insulting: confusing, n'est-ce pas?
- Note that this is also prone to regional variations. In Québec, for instance, using the formal pronoun vous with someone's first name is acceptable in certain polite but informal introductions.
- It doesn't only depend on the person, but also on the setting. For example, lawyers in court would always address each other as vous, even if they are good friends and would call each other tu in private.
- German shares the du/Sie pronouns with the French tu/vous in addition to the use of first and second name. First name basis always assumes a close personal relationship or a highly informal social situation, so it's never used for strangers or authority figures, for which such a relationship is considered improper, even if you know each other for years and go along very well. The exception is for children and young teenagers which are always called by first name, but are expected to use the second name form the same way adults do.
- Changing from Sie to du is still considered a big deal by some Germans, who feel a bit of a ritual is necessary. This may take the form of Brüderschaft trinken (drinking brotherhood), which entails the two persons drinking with the arms holding the respective glasses linked. If then one of the two people accidentally addresses the other with "<honorific> + <last name>", the other may require him to buy him a drink as a penalty. And addressing someone with du and first name still can lead to them testily replying, "Und wann haben wir zusammen Schweine gehütet?" ("And when did we herd pigs together?")
- An interesting exception are German universities, where all students are always on first name basis, regardless of age, social background, academical seniority or personal relationship. This is a result of the 1968 students' revolt which affected the way students addressed each other since the 1970s.
- Also, in schools, teachers start referring to the students with Sie and switch to last name basis at the beginning of the 11th grade (most pupils are 16 by this time, thus the change marks the beginning of adulthood). Often, though, there's no change because the students themselves object the changed patterns.
- Additionally, du usually implies First-Name Basis, while Sie implies Last-Name Basis. Addressing someone with du and their last name (or vice versa) is... odd.
- Unless there exists a tradition to do otherwise. This is for example the case with nurses who are addressed by their title Schwester ("Sister") followed by their first name while Sie is used at the same time. This is because nurses were almost universally nuns during the time when the German health system was established — and "Sister <Some-First-Name>" is exactly how nuns are addressed.
- Historically, German had a quite complex system of addressing people depending on the social rank of the speaker and the addressee. Before Sie (third person plural) gradually became the respectful catch-all it is today starting in the late 18th century it was something like this:
- Du (second person singular) and first name: Grown-ups to children, masters to (junior) servants, close friends and siblings amongst themselves, husbands to wives (but not always vice versa, sometimes women would address their husbands by their last name, vide Effi Briest), and everybody to God.
- Du and last name (without honorific): Teachers to pupils of a minor age, landlords to peasants etc., masters to senior servants.
- Er or sie ("he" or "she", third person singular) and honorific plus last name: Socially superior to inferior, e.g. a passenger to a coachman, but also e.g. a king to an officer.
- Ihr (second person plural): Socially inferior to superior, but also monarch to subject in official letters.
- In some cases personal pronouns were pretty much entirely avoided and replaced by a more complex honorific such as "Your Majesty", "Your Excellency", etc.; this went with verbs in third person plural.
- Spanish has three of this. Usted, tú y vos. Each with its own rules of verbal conjugation. Usted is used in most Spanish-speaking countries as a respectful term for people you are unfamiliar with (unless they're children or very young), authority figures or superiors. Tú and vos are exactly the same, use for friends, family and in general informal situations is just that they are used in different countries with vos used in Argentina, Uruguay, Central America and some parts of Colombia and tú everywhere else including Spain. AS tú is used in dubbing including Neutral Spanish (the international version of Spanish design for dubbing) users of vos can generally switch to tú if needed (and even dubbing studios in places like Argentina use the tú instead of the vos) but not so much the other way around although thanks to Argentinian media's popularity is much more common for vos to be understood in places like Mexico and Spain. And to add confusion, usted is actually use as an informal way to refer to someone in Colombia and Costa Rica, thus using if for relatives, friends and even pets which may be unsettling for people from other countries. And on top of that if two people declare themselves extremely close friends/quasi-family (compadres/comadres), in some places they mark the change by switching back to usted. Not lost yet?
- Simon's Rock College of Bard in Western Massachusetts has this written into the campus bylaws. Everyone is on a first name basis. The President and provost are Leon and Mary.
- And then there's Italian, a magical language that has THREE ways to refer to people: Tu, Voi e Lei (corresponding to informal "you", royal "you" and formal "you", respectively). Tu is like Du or Tu in French, basically something with which you refer to someone you consider on your same level, so to speak. Voi is far more high, basically the way you may talk with a Queen or an equivalent. Dare del lei is something in the middle: you are showing respect, but let's say that you don't have to bow down when they walk in front of you. Usually the latter is the way you speak with superiors or professors and, if you are a professor at the university, at your students. On the other hand, outside school and work people call each other using their first name, even if they just met. There's no real problem in using honorifics instead of surnames or first names: while the last choice is less polite than the others, it certainly isn't that much of a deal.
- It is (or used to be) partly regional, with people in the South using Voi where Northerners use Lei. Under Fascism, Lei was officially replaced by Voi, but that change did not stick.
- Portuguese also has informal (tu) and formal (você) pronouns, but their usage varies a lot depending on dialect and personal preferences:
- In Portugal tu implies a "first name basis", except when the person is known by their last name even to their friends, and você implies a last name basis, but the pronoun itself is almost never used (the verbal conjugation changes to suit você, but the person is addressed by a title or no pronoun at all). Talking to someone using the word você is considered downright rude.
- Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and some parts of Paraná have somewhat the same tu/você split as Portugal, but the pronoun você itself isn't considered rude, and some people conjugate the verb following either pronoun the same.
- In most Brazil, tu fell into disuse, and most people will use only você even on informal and "first name basis" circumstances. Titles as o senhor ("Mister") are used instead to convey formality and, confusingly enough, with parents in more traditional families.
- Modern Greek is much like French when it comes to using people's first names. It also uses εσύ (esí) as a familiar singular you along the lines of French tu and εσείς (esís) for the plural you and the polite singular you along the lines of vous. In conversation, switching from polite to familiar usually involves saying something like "μπορούμε να μιλήσουμε στον ενικό;" ("Can we speak in the singular?"). It's unthinkable for the answer to this to be 'no', so one should be careful when to ask this question of someone and whether it is appropriate.
- Occurs in Malaysian and Singaporean society:
- Muslim names in the form of '[A] bin [B]' (for males) or '[A] binti [B]' (for females) mean "[A], the son/daughter of [B (the father)]". It is very rude to refer such people as [B], and they are always referred as [A].
- It similarly works to refer to them as using "son of" (s/o)/"anak lelaki" (a/l) or "daughter of" (d/o)/"anak perempuan" (a/p), i.e. "A s/o B" or "A a/p B". This naming convention is also commonly used among Indian communities which adopt a similar naming system.
- The Chinese have their names as Last-Name Basis, but some of them were referred by their first name (which is a surname) by people other than Chinese for simplicity. Some of them found out this as odd, though.
- Muslim names in the form of '[A] bin [B]' (for males) or '[A] binti [B]' (for females) mean "[A], the son/daughter of [B (the father)]". It is very rude to refer such people as [B], and they are always referred as [A].
- Meanwhile, in neighboring Indonesia, this trope also applies. Surnames are virtually nonexistent, so everyone are always referred to by their given names (this doesn't mean that they only have one name; in modern times, someone may have up to five names, none of which are inherited). Unlike Malaysian Muslims, Indonesian Muslims don't really adhere to the Arabic patronymic of bin/binti and do not codify it into their legal names, so the risk of someone being referred to by his father's name out of spite is practically unknown.
- In Israel, first-name basis is used almost all the time. Students call their teachers by their first names — and if they don't know the name, it's "Teacher". While some professors/doctors insist on their title, lots of others don't bother with formality and go by their first name. Heck, even in the army, you call officers by their first name. "Sir" is only used in boot camp.
- The same instructor-student informality applies to universities in the United States as well. Occasionally, you'll run into the occasional professor who sign their messages with their first name, and on rare occasions they even encourage you to address them by first name.
- This trope can come up in the military. Since last names are worn on everyone's uniforms, this is almost always what people will use upon meeting one another. Switching to first names usually means that a relationship has become more personal.
- In elite special operations units (at least North American ones) it isn't unusual for members to use personal names or nicknames when talking to each other regardless of rank outside of formal occasions. Actually referring to someone using "proper" military protocol usually means something really serious is going on.
- In Victorian Britain, calling someone by their first name was unheard of unless you were in a very close relationship (for example, engaged couples or siblings/cousins). Also, social etiquette, especially that involving first name usage, was very strict.
- Lampshaded by the Queen herself at the death of Prince Albert, to the effect that no one would be allowed to call her simply "Victoria" anymore...
- All Slavic languages use the aforementioned T-V distinction. Russians are very strict about whether they'll call someone by their last name, given name or patronymic. South Slavs however tend to go very quickly from calling someone vi (formal) to ti (informal) and not to do so implies a degree of coldness or even hostility unless there is a significant difference in age, status or the occasion is purely professional.
- In Bosnian universities professors, assistants and students call each other "colleague" to emphasise the filial relationship between all members (no matter how junior or senior) in an academic field. Freshmen tend to get a kick or two out of calling the grumpy tweed clad professor that failed them on an exam kolega (which, besides "colleague", also means "pal").
- Bulgarians, if unsure, after a certain point ask "by Vie or by ti?", cultural equivalent to "may I call you <first name>". By default, as with other Slavic languages, First-Name Basis goes with informal "you" and Last-Name Basis with honorific (polite) or without one (at the workplace) go with formal "you". Last-Name Basis with informal "you" is sometimes used between coworkers, and First-Name Basis with formal "you" is also occasionally used, but scoffed at as pretentious.
- On the other hand, in Czech, a Western Slavic language, while a similar question will probably be raised at some point, you can call someone by their first name and vy if you want to maintain both familiarity and respect at the same time (such as in the workplace); while ty with last name would be very disrespectful between adults. It's possibly because the latter is the standard in primary and secondary schools from (adult) teacher to (underage) student (where the last name is an easy means of distinguishing between children), and under the influence of that between students who are forced to spend their days together but are not friends. Generally, using the last name without the honorific is disrespectful, which is possibly why the convention of using first name with the formal "you" has developed instead (probably under the influence of American English). The honorific is also often used together with a person's function or title (and the formal vy, of course), such as "Mr Professor", which often carries an even higher degree of respect; one can find oneself addressed by one's academic title even outside academia, although this is less likely to happen to foreigners whose academic title abbreviations will be more opaque to Czechs. Many centuries ago, though, ty was much more common, making the situation possibly closer to that described for Bulgarian — but the close proximity of the German language has left its mark: in the 18th and 19th centuries, the conventions were very similar to the historical German conventions described above (most elites primarily spoke German at the time).
- Few people know that Buryat musician Namgar's full name is Namgar Ayushievna Lhasaranova. She will forgive you if 'Namgar' is the only part of her name you can remember.
- This is a significant cultural difference between Canadians and Americans. Canadians are often annoyed by the American tendency to quickly jump to first name basis, even while still strangers.
- Clint Eastwood has for one reason or another been on first name basis with generations of Swedes, where he is known as "Klintan". And his films (and also about 50/50 ANY Western) are called "Klintanfilm".
- In the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson is one of the very few people known and called only by their first name. Too be fair, Johnson is an extremely common last-name in English-Speaking Countries, so referring to him by his less common first-name makes far more sense.
- In the United States, politicians running for high office on a first name basis has increased significantly since the 2000s. Hillary Rodham Clinton probably started the trend when she used only her first name in campaign materials when she ran for president in 2008, mostly to differentiate her from her husband, Bill Clinton. In the 2016 Democratic primary, both major candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, opted to campaign primarily using their first name, and on the GOP side Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina did the same. By the 2020 Democratic primary, Michael Bloomberg ("Mike"), Amy Klobuchar, Tulsi Gabbard, Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigieg all decided to go on a first-name basis with voters, amounting to half of the candidate field.
- In Ireland, important politicians are spoken about by their first name in common parlance. You would never, ever hear anyone refer to President Michael D. Higgins as "Higgins" or "President Higgins" - he is simply "Michael D". Similarly, many Taoisigh are/were called by their first names by the public.
- Just about everybody in the west calls Saddam Hussein by his first name, probably to differentiate him from then-King Hussein of Jordan.
- After he became ruler of the Commonwealth and well into the Restoration, many Britons would refer to Oliver Cromwell as "Oliver".
- Vietnamese people are always on a given name basis (their given names come last, not first, just like many other East Asian cultures, and are always written as such). It's not really clear the reasons why. Maybe phonetically, Vietnamese family names are too short, containing only one syllable (although with tones and a wider variety of sound combinations, they're still more complex than names used by the Koreans who are on a formal family name basis). Maybe Vietnamese people, by nature, just can't be that stiff, considering one always has to estimate a person's age comparatively with their grandparents', their parents' and their own age just in order to address them properly, and frequently finds themselves giving in and just, you know, ask for people's age, which makes most Vietnamese conversations uncomfortably forcibly intimate, involving such questions as "Where are you from?", "How old are you?", "What Vietnamese zodiac animals are you associated with?", "How many kids do you have?", etc.
- Given name basis is also customary in Cambodia. As with Vietnamese names, Cambodian names have the surname first; originally Cambodian surnames were patronymic in nature but are not necessarily used this way anymore.
- In most Spanish-speaking cultures, the first name basis is the default, however the add of the particle don (in males) and doña (in females) is the norm as a showing of respect, generally used in elderly people that is not part of your family, bosses, authority figures and the like. For example, if the person's name is 'José Pérez', he would be referred to as "Don José", thus such titles as Doña Barbara, Don Juan and probably the most famous example Don Quixote. Last names are generally reserve for political and public figures and some celebrities for press purposes but would be uncommon to refer to them by their last name in person, as is considered rude. For example, you may refer to Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro just as "Maduro" when speaking as a third party specially in news report or public speeches, but if speaking to him, you probably call him "Don Nicolás".
- The Arabic-speaking world is characterized by two odd extremes:
- On one end, both the standard language and most varieties lack a T-V distinction, and first-name and full-name references are the standard. (Arabic does use the second-person plural in the singular—i.e. the inverse of the Royal "We"—but only in extremely formal situations like diplomatic correspondence or talking to a king.) Arabic actually lacks a general-purpose honorific like "Mister/Miss/Mrs/Ms", and it's generally seen as rude to refer to someone by their last name in most contexts. Full names are seen as slightly more formal, though not as formal as avoiding the name entirely. The major exception is when someone has a title relevant to the conversation (e.g. "Professor" or "Doctor"), which might be paired with the first name or the surname depending on context.
- On the other end, the biggest variety of spoken Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, has not only a full T-V distinction but also a full system of honorifics almost like in East Asia. The standard Arabic word for "you" (rendered inta (m) or inti (f) in Egyptian) is the "T" term and a term roughly meaning "Your Grace" (ḥaḍretak (m)/ḥaḍretik (f)) is the "V," with the "V" term being used fairly similarly to French vous but with more emphasis on age difference. On top of that, Egyptians have a hierarchy of terms above ḥaḍretak to reflect even deeper respect, usually to bosses and government officials (e.g. seyattak, "Your Lordship", usually used to address the Big Cheese at your company—or the President of the country) but also age (especially ḥagg (m)/ḥagga (f), literally "pilgrim", for the elderlynote ) and (perceived) social class (e.g. ānisa "young lady", for a young woman perceived by the speaker to be classy, and hānimnote for an older lady of quality). There's also an array of terms of address based on social class and occupation that substitute for the "V"; this includes educational ones like ustāz ("Professor") but also some weird ones like bash muhandes ("Chief Engineer") for high-skilled blue-collar workers (e.g. plumbers and electricians), rayyis ("Chief") for skilled laborers, me`allim ("Teacher") for unskilled and semi-skilled laborers, `amm (literally "Paternal Uncle") for (male) servants, and asṭa ("Master") for drivers. (If you go to Egypt and take a cab anywhere, the cabbie is properly referred to as asṭa.) There's also an array of informal ones that can substitute for the "T" term among friends or family, the most common one being bāshā (Pasha, an old noble title roughly equivalent to "Duke"), which roughly means "dude" among young men. All of these terms can combine with the first name alone or the last name alone pretty freely, though there are some fixed rules (e.g. drivers are always "asṭa [Firstname]").
Individual cases.
- Indo-Canadian musician Raghav Mathur is invariably billed by his first name.
- Wynonna Judd is usually billed only by her first name.
- Similarly, if you say just "Reba", most people will understand that you're talking about Reba McEntire. In fact, all of her albums since 1988's Reba have referred to her only by her first name.
- "Shania" is another one-name-only country diva, even a decade plus after her heyday.
- Not limited to country music—just to name two very notable examples, Madonna (Ciccone) and Beyoncé (Knowles, later Knowles-Carter).
- Swedish-born American actress Ann-Margret Olsson has most often been credited as "Ann-Margret".
- Similarly. Japanese-American actor Mako Iwamatsu was most often credited as "Mako".
- In the NBA from the '80s on, if you say "Magic", "Michael" or "Larry", people know who you mean.
- Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James are all far better known by their first name (or in the former's case, his nickname derived from his first name) than by their last name. Unlike Magic, Michael, or Larry; the names Shaq, Kobe, and LeBron are pretty much synonymous with the NBA stars even outside the context of basketball. In fact, let's just say that if you're a basketball player who's referred to commonly by your first name, you are a really BIG deal. The uncommon name also applies to earlier players Wilt and Kareem.
- Fast forward to the 2010s and 2020s, and the names "Steph", "Klay", "Draymond", "Kawhi", "Kyrie", "Giannis", and "Luka"note will immediately grab the attention of an average NBA fan.
- And in the 2018–19 college season, "Zion", or in full Zion Williamson, became arguably at least as big a basketball name as any of the NBA players mentioned immediately above. Especially after his shoe literally blew apart early in Duke's second game that season against archenemy North Carolina, causing an injury that kept him out for nearly a month but thankfully caused no permanent damage. After winning all significant national player of the year honors that season, he was chosen first in the 2019 NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans, and made an injury-delayednote debut with the Pels in January 2020, immediately showing promise of future superstardom.Background
- In 2019–20, this trope even reared its head in women's basketball—Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon superstar who went #1 to the New York Liberty in the 2020 WNBA draft, is now often referred to in basketball circles by her first name. Her first big claim to fame was smashing every previous record for college triple-doubles.note She also became the first NCAA basketball player (male or female) with 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
- Same holds true for "Ichiro" (Suzuki) in baseball, whether you're in North America or Japan. Invoked Trope in this case as Suzuki is one of the most common family names in Japan (basically their Smith or Jones), so Ichiro uses his first name as much as possible for marketing purposes, including on his uniform.
- In football/soccer, there are quite a few examples.
- Most Brazilian players go by an apelido (loose translation: nickname), which in some cases can be the player's actual first name. Two of the most notable examples of first-name Brazilians are Ronaldo Luiz Nazário de Lima and Marta Vieira da Silva. This practice has carried over into other Brazilian sports, with examples including basketball players Oscar Schmidt and Hortência Marcari.
- Quite a few Spanish footballers also go by their first name only, with one notable example being Raúl González.
- Just say the name "Zlatan", and people around the world will instantly know you're referring to Swedish star striker/egomaniac Zlatan Ibrahimović. Likewise, saying "Cristiano" will make people immediately think of Cristiano Ronaldo.
- 40-plus years after his death, you still only need to say Elvis.
- Ernst Röhm, the leader of the SA, was the only top Nazi close enough to Adolf Hitler that he openly and freely addressed him by his first name rather than his title of Führer.
- Michael Jackson is referred to by either his first name or a Full-Name Basis. Justified as he had eight other siblings, so just using "Jackson" can be very confusing. You just mention a Michael in the music industry and people will immediately think of him first.
- Besides, Michael started performing and doing shows when he was ten, along with his brothers. Because of this, it seemed he was used to just being called by his name alone — he wouldn't even be mad if you don't add a Mr. — and calling him Jackson can be awkward.
- According to his big brother Jermaine, their father insisted on his children not calling him "Daddy", "Papa" or even "Dad", but just "Joseph", out of respect. But they can just call their mother "Mom", and Michael also averted this with his own children, as Paris Jackson said, it took her a while to learn that her father had a name, not just "Daddy" or "Dad".
- The actor Keanu Reeves, albeit not necessarily, is often called Keanu. His first name being so unusual that it's hard to think of another Keanu.
- While most professional wrestlers tend to go on a last name basis, quite a few tend to be called by their first names instead:
- Almost all women in the professional wrestling industry. An aversion is Charlotte Flair, though it was played straight at first—WWE didn't add "Flair" to her ring name until 2016.note
- Santino Marella, to the point where his last name was increasingly phased out as time went on.
- Vince McMahon is almost always called Mr. McMahon on official WWE material,note but fans usually refer to him as "Vince", to avoid confusion with the rest of his family. The other Vince in wrestling is referred to by either his last name or a string of curse words.
- Wrestlers who share their last names with other figures in the industry (whether by family or not), like Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, Jeff Hardy, and Matt Hardy.
- Big E. Langston, whose last name was eventually dropped for good.
- Enzo Amore, to the point that his last name was slowly phased out, although never officially retired, just like "Marella".
- When Tom Hanks presented a special Golden Globe to Denzel Washington, his introductory speech noted he was part of a short list of actors that could be easily reduced to one name, but the only one where it wasn't the surname:Brando; Clift; Poitier; McQueen; Hoffman; Pacino; De Niro. Now the cliche "the list goes on-and-on" does not apply here–because it doesn't. The list is finite, the club is exclusive. A single name can define an artist who is a peer and equal with all of the greatest legends of our craft. If Washington doesn't ring loud enough, then let the first name carry all the weight. And that name is Denzel.
- In aboriginal communities in Canada, someone not accepting use of their first name (except if referring to their position in a formal setting, such as "Mister/Madame Chair" or "Minister", or in especially formal settings such as when a member of the Royal Family shows up) is often seen as being obnoxiously arrogant and is not likely to be warmly received. This extends to Northern Canadians in general, and Southern Canadians usually express the same sort of attitude as mentioned for Americans. To Canadians, someone insistent on maintaining a last name basis outside of formal settings comes across as being rude or deliberately annoying.
