Meaning of last-name | Babel Free

Definitions

To address by last name.

rare

Examples

“In some schools or businesses, inferiority is underscored by last-naming alone. Superiors receive [title + last name], but inferiors are called by their last names alone. If novels and mystery stories are to be believed, in England servants were often last-named without titles, as were students. As late as the 1950s, in the staid New England high school I went to, boys were last-named alone, but girls were [Miss + last name]. In some schools or social circles today, mutual last-naming by peers is a sign of intimacy or affection.”

“The most useful test of whether unsought informality presents problems is this: when practitioners feel comfortable being first-named by their patients. If you expect to be called Doctor or Nurse so-and-so, reciprocate the respect by last-naming your 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