Meaning of first-name | Babel Free

Definitions

To address (someone) by first name.

rare

Examples

“Physicians are first-named only by close family, friends, and colleagues in the United States. […] First-naming has extended itself to one group who formerly were sacrosanct: teachers and professors. […] Since it is, indeed, a privileged patient who first-names his or her physician, one cannot help feeling, in many such instances, that this is a way of affirming special status.”

“Most adults are in the habit of addressing children, menial workers and the disadvantaged by their first names. […] As onerous as this arrogation may appear, it is not nearly as malignant as the present custom of first-naming women, minorities and the elderly, particularly if they happen to be ill. […] The most useful test of whether unsought informality presents problems is this: when practitioners feel comfortable being first-named by their patients.”

“By last-naming those whom I am expected to last-name and by answering to my first name when those who are authorized to first-name me do so and by insisting that those unauthorized to first-name me use my last name, I submit to and enforce the distribution of status that drives naming conventions.”

CEFR level