Christian name or Mr/Mrs/Miss?

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I don't like businesses or service providers I don't know calling me by my first name. And I *really* hate medical offices calling me by my first name -- it's condescending and rude -- if you expect me to call you "Dr. Smith" you darn well better call me "Mr. Jones." (I'm actually "Dr. Darmok" myself, but I'm not an M.D., so I'd never make a point of that unless someone else tried to condescendingly push their own title, which is very rare.)

Last edited by Darmok on 04 Jan 2019, 6:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Except I know the people I prefere 'Herr' or 'Mr.' and surname. Anything else is disrespectful.
Only if you want to socialize at least a bit with the people then the first name is OK.
But nobody socializes with a company. For this they have to address you right.

The above two posts are right on the mark. Personally, I bemoan the fact that we don't have a formal second person pronoun in English, too - a Sie or vous. Perhaps this is why standards are a bit higher in Germany.

I don’t really get upset about “Christian name.” I understand it’s a UK thing. Americans on the East Coast rarely use it these days, though I believe it’s more common in the South and Midwest.

I prefer “first name” myself. And “middle name” and “last name.”

But I wouldn’t get upset if someone said “surname.” Id go with the flow.

I’m not into the PC thing myself.

Yes. I didn't take the US thing into account.

Oh my goodness no! that's just too much formality for the sake of formality.

I prefer that things are becoming more easy going.

You're slowly convincing me that I prefer my first name to be used. I can't stand stuffiness.

I grew up in the North and I've very rarely heard anyone use the term Christian name. I am much more used to using the term first name. Therefore I shall continue to use it.

As for not complaining.

I don't think it's worth complaining about. It irritates me a little, but it's not at all important.

It's interesting that it is (or at least was, when I left) a much more common term in the UK than in the US, since Christianity seems to be much more of a thing in the US than in the UK. I guess it just emphasises the point, that "Christian name" has no particular religious connotation for the average Brit; it's just the term we use for a first name.

Yes, this strikes me as odd, too and does indeed prove my point.

Either is fine by me. I live in a small town, where people see each other all the time. I guess we are pretty casual in small towns.

What is bothersome to others is how they are addressed after introducing themselves. A friend, Andrew, likes to be called "Andrew". But most people will immediately call him, "Andy." He gnashes his teeth & usually corrects them. But some people still insist on "Andy" for some reason.

I used to like being called "Pete". Whenever I heard "Peter" as a kid, it was Mom yelling at me to give me a spanking. But she is gone now, and 2 syllable's first name, 1 syllable last name sounds much better than 1-1.

Wrong. 'You' is quite the same as 'Ihr' (plural majestatis). You don't use 'Thou' (German 'Du') for people that you know animore.

Last edited by quite an extreme on 04 Jan 2019, 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Online, I’m fine with people addressing me by my username (Catlover5), my username-nickname (CL) or my real first name (Harry). Of course, I don’t give out my surname online because that would reveal too much personal information about me. Wrong Planet isn’t what I consider a "formal" forum so there isn’t any need to call me "Sir".

In real life, strangers will obviously not know my name or anything else about me. This is where I have a bit of a dilemma. At 19, I am too old to be considered a child, and strangers being informal with me (e.g. calling me "darling" – that happens quite a bit) tends to irk me, but I also feel I am still too young to suit being called "Sir". I’d rather strangers just didn’t call me by any name.

In a number of foreign languages, there are, as pointed out by Prometheus18, multiple second-person pronouns. The distinction between each of them per language is known as the "Tu-Vos distinction". Tu and vos are, respectively, the informal and formal second-pronouns in the Latin language. The informal pronoun is used when e.g. talking to a child or to a person familially close to oneself, and the formal one is used when e.g. talking to a stranger, a person much older than oneself, or a person with whom one only interacts with in professional situations. In these languages, the use of this second-person pronoun system helps one to determine how to address another person. The English language does not use this system however.

Aha. I didn't understand your question at all. I used to live in a nice Jewish neighbourhood. Nobody had a Christian name, even I, who attend a Catholic church. The rule is to turn to law for the definitions.

In the Province of Quebec, a woman keeps her birth name for life, unless she changes it at law, just like men always did. As for Miss/Mrs etc., these are social, not legal, designations and through custom we use Miss and Mrs as indicating having achieved the age to vote.

The surname of the baby is chosen by the parent(s). There is no such thing as an illegitimate baby.

I prefer that strangers call me Mrs. or Ms. When I was young, we used to say “Christian” name, but somewhere along the way it got changed to “first” name. My father had 3 given names and was known by the third, rather than the first. Anne is my middle name. My first name is traditionally a male name. If I want to be difficult I use just that name, without Anne, just to see if people call me Mr. or Mrs.
At work, and elsewhere, I call strangers ma’am or sir.

To be honest, I don't really think about it, it doesn't bother me personally.

Not all given names are Christian

Not everyone is Christian

In United States, it is, separation of church and state


Officially


Yeah right


Christmas trees and Christmas carols and whatnot in public schools, allowed by the court as "pagan" or whatever

Unless public schools celebrate Buddhist and Muslim holidays too , I think that is "discrimination"





Original question:

Unless a professional has to call me on a waiting list, I would prefer they not say my name

First or last

They often mispronounce it


It seems too personal





But I know, some professionals are required by , job description, to use customer names