First-Name Basis/Literature

Literature examples of First-Name Basis.

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• Unless they're trying to make a point, even masters and servants in Duumvirate are on first name bases. The only exceptions are for people who hate their given names, or have a formal title and can't be told apart.
• Eustace and Jill in CS Lewis's The Silver Chair call each other by last name at first, as was customary at their school. Toward the end of the book, as they became friends, they start calling each other by their first names.
• In Harry Potter, Sirius Black was referred to by his last name until Harry started to become attached to him. Yet Lupin, of whom Harry is equally fond, is always Lupin, just as Hagrid is always Hagrid and Dumbledore is always Dumbledore.
  • Speaking of Dumbles, he calls everyone by their first name, whether he likes them or not. And whether they (*cough*Voldemort*cough*) like it or not. Of course, Dumbledore did know Voldemort before he was Voldemort.

"Being me has its privileges."

• • Interestingly, Harry always has to be prompted by others to call Snape "Professor," except in one instance - when he first uses what turns out to be his signature spell, Expelliarmus:

"Shouldn't have let Professor Snape teach us that one," Harry said grimly.

• • Throughout the series, Snape himself always addresses his colleague and former teacher as Professor McGonagall; however, in Book Seven, after he becomes Headmaster, he calls her Minerva.
  • Also, Harry starts to call Voldemort "Riddle" during the final battle. It takes some cojones to do that.
  • And just before that he stops thinking of his future mother in law as Mrs Weasley, as referenced by the use of Molly.
• In Robert Heinlein's Double Star, the emperor realizes the Emergency Impersonation imposture when the double calls him by title privately; they had been on a first name basis in private.
• In Sandy Mitchell's Ciaphas Cain books, it is used in several ways.
  • In Death Or Glory, when Felicia Tayber first calls him "Ciaphas," Amberley Vail speculates they had had some time to socialize -- though when is the question. (There are other hints that they had a fling during the course of the book, including one infamous mention of a particular mechadendrite.)
  • In Duty Calls, the colonel of his regiment calls him "Ciaphas" to emphasize that she is personally concerned about him after a concussion and he should not act as if he had a Hard Head.
  • An old school friend calls him "Cai", which Cain does not like and does not take from anyone else -- as a sign this friend is annoying and presumptuous.
  • In Cain's Last Stand, Cain gives information to an agent of Inquisitor Vail, and refers to her as "Amberley", to remind him that she and Cain are close.
  • When Amberley herself calls him "Ciaphas" in For The Emperor, he later reflects on how it seemed so natural that he didn't think to question it at the time. It's probably got something to do with Love At First Sight. Or because she's an Inquisitor.
• In Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novel Necropolis, Surgeon Ana Curth insisted on Surgeon Curth when she first met Dorden. At the end, after they had worked together the length of the war, she had comforted him while he wept over his son's death, and she decided to join the Ghosts, she tells Dorden about her decision, and

She smiled sadly. "I think, by now, that it's all right for you to call me Ana."

• • Most of the Gaunt's Ghosts are on a Last-Name Basis, so that use of the first name, while not often as pointed as this, is usually significant sign of friendship or informality. (Except Dalin Criid -- because "Criid" means Tona Criid, his adoptive mother.)
  • A more straight example: After Traitor General, Rawne and Guant address eachother by first name, at least in private
• In Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 novel Brothers of the Snake, the Librarian, Petrok, insists that Priad, a brother-sergeant, call him "Petrok." Until Petrok orders Priad to lead his squad to war over Priad's objections, when he reverts to "sir". Petrok, although thinking his orders right Because Destiny Says So, concedes that's fair enough.
• In Journey's End Stanhope angrily says to his old school friend and subordinate Raleigh "Don't you Dennis me!". He later has a Pet the Dog moment at the end when he calls Raleigh by his first name after he's dying.
• In Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night, Harriet Vane has an awkward moment: because she is addressing Lord Peter Wimsey before the senior members of the university, she (properly) calls him "Lord Peter" (as opposed to just "Peter") for the first time in a long time.
• Princess Irene insists on this in George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin:

"Oh, then, Curdie, you must call me just Irene and no more."
"No, indeed," said the nurse indignantly. "He shall do no such thing."
"What shall he call me, then, Lootie?"
"Your Royal Highness."
"My Royal Highness! What's that? No, no, Lootie. I won't be called names. I don't like them. You told me once yourself it's only rude children that call names; and I'm sure Curdie wouldn't be rude. Curdie, my name's Irene."

• In Graham McNeill's Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarines novel Dead Sky Black Sun, after rescuing Colonel Leonid in a Take My Hand situation, Uriel deliberately addresses the shaken Leonid as "Mikhail."
• In Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 Horus Heresy novel Horus Rising, when one iterator praises another for how her picture captures "Garviel", she observes that he must be a friend of Captain Loken, to call him so.
  • In Graham McNeill's False Gods, when Loken goes to speak with Erebus, Erebus insists on "Erebus" and not "First Chaplain". Later, Horus tells the remembrancer Petronella Vivar to call him "Horus" and not "my lord."
  • In Graham McNeill's Fulgrim, when Fayle requests permission to speak, Fulgrim addresses him by first name. His pleasure is visible, and one of Fulgrim's soldiers reflects on the skill with which Fulgrim flatters. Later, when Solomon Demeter tries to pry the true story of what happened on Murder out of Saul Tarvitz, he calls him "Saul" -- and then asks permission.
• In James Swallow's Warhammer 40,000 novel Deus Encarmine, Inquisitor Stele calls an astropath by his first name for the first time in ten years just before he kills him.
• In Patricia A. McKillip's The Bell at Sealey Head, when Ridley Dow is caught by magic, Miranda Beryl gets him to the door calling him by his first name. She continues to call him by it as she is getting him somewhere to rest.
  • At the party, Gwyneth Blair insists that Judd Cauley call her "Gwyneth" -- after all, he did when they were children.
• In Terry Pratchett's A Hat Full of Sky, Esmerelda Weatherwax, a highly respected witch, grants Tiffany the right to call her "Granny Weatherwax", usually reserved for those who are quite close to her while everyone else calls her Mistress Weatherwax.
  • And in Soul Music, the following conversation addresses the issue for someone whose acquaintance everyone eventually makes:

Nobby: What's his first name?
Colon: What do you mean? He's Death. Just Death!
Nobby: No, that's his job. What do his friends call him?
Colon: What friends?
Nobby: Oh, right. Still, he must've got one, hasn't he?
Colon: You mean like, "Keith" Death?
Nobby: I think he looks like a Leonard.

• • In the case above, it was Susan. The leader of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch uses this trope in an odd way - he's usually fine with being referred to as "Commander Vimes," while he lets coppers he's worked with for a while use the more informal "Mister Vimes." But if Sergeant Colon ever calls him "Sam," he knows his old friend is worried.
• In the beginning of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are referred to as Perry and Dick, making them more relatable to the audience. Later, they are referred to as Smith and Hickock, which serves to distance them from the reader.
• In The Wheel of Time, Aiel have trouble grasping the notion of a name with multiple parts, and so tend to be on a Full-Name Basis with wetlanders in general. However, Aviendha refers to Elayne by just her first name, which is as significant as it would be in Japanese.
• Chiss have rather long, punctuated names like Mitth'raw'nuruodo. Their shorter "core names", like Thrawn, appear to be mostly reserved for close acquaintances, relatives, and friends. When Thrawn met Jorj Car'das in Outbound Flight he started on a Full-Name Basis and was told to call Car'das by his last name and, since Car'das hopelessly mangled Mitth'raw'nuruodo, allowed Car'das and the other two humans to use his core name. Later he asks his brother Mitth'ras'saffic if he will let them use his core name, Thrass, and Thrass initially refuses, but relents because the humans did save Thrawn's life, at least. When he came into Imperial service Thrawn simply went by Thrawn since just about everyone had trouble with his full name, to the point where the fact that he had more name was surprising.
  • By Survivor's Quest it seems like the Chiss interacting with representatives of the New Republic and the Empire of the Hand have acclimated; Chaf'orm'bintrano, who was suspicious and dismissive of humans fifty years ago, quickly tells Luke and Mara to call him Formbi, and gives the core names of every Chiss he introduces to them, much to Prard'ras'kleoni's annoyance.
• In Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novel Dead Beat, we see Harry and Ramirez's becoming Fire-Forged Friends when Ramirez tells him, during the battle,

Everyone else who lets me ride on their dinosaur calls me Carlos

• In C.S. Goto's Blood Ravens trilogy, an eldar farseer calls Gabriel by his first name; he finds it presumptuous but doesn't object.
• In C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy, Tarrant only calls Vryce by his first name twice. Both times are significant.
  • It also works the other way round: Tarrant is called "Gerald" by Damien Vryce only in a few and very important instances.
• Kitty Norville refers to people by their last names in her narrative until they become friends or allies. Then she calls them by their first names.
• Mercy Thompson refers to people by their first name if they're pack or friends of the pack. Enemies or unknown quantities are referred to by last name only.
• Kate, the Demon Hunting Soccer Mom also refers to friends by first names, mostly. In the second book in the series, she referred to one of the bad guys by his first name -- but he was a celebrity whose first name was a household word of sorts.
• In Quantum Gravity, elf culture goes from second half of name to first half of name. This is important, as everything except the first half of one's name is on the books, and elves have stronger True Names than any other being.
  • Tath, specifically, asks Lila to switch to Ilya after becoming closer.
  • Interestingly, even after They Do, Zal still insists upon Zal, not Azrezal. Could be because, being also demonic, he thinks of it as a nickname, rather than a more formal address.
• Sarah Waters has a very neat trick in Affinity, which is made up of two diaries. In the main narrative, the protagonist sometimes refers to her maid Vigers. In the other, mention is made of a character called Ruth. They are in fact the same person. The reader only discovers this in the very last pages, and the fact has terrible consequences.
• In Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Mad King, Emma recounts when a child, the prince had insisted on her calling him "Leopold" and made her kiss him every time she called him "highness."
• In L. Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero in Hell, after Mab calls Miranda "Miranda", she kicks herself for not realizing he was Not Himself and the shapechanger; he always calls her "ma'am" or "Miss Miranda".
• A Song of Ice and Fire has a variation with Jaime and Brienne. Initially they refer to eachother with derogatory nicknames ("wench"/"Kingslayer"), but as they travel together they begin to develop respect for each other as knights and begin to use formal honorifics ("ser"/"my lady") and eventually actual names, though Jaime reserves "wench" as a term of affection/frustration when Brienne is being particularly honourable. Brienne refers to Jaime almost exclusively as "Ser Jaime" in A Feast for Crows, and when Jaime runs into her ex-fiance, who badmouths Brienne, he makes him address her with respect, backed up by his right hand.

“The bear was less hairy than that freak, I’ll—”
“You are speaking of a highborn lady, ser. Call her by her name.”

• In Drei Männer im Schnee by Erich Kästner, Hagedorn and Tobler become fast friends, and shift to a first-name basis quite late in the narrative. This is a significant event, and not something that was taken lightly in German culture at the time.
• There is exactly one person who calls Sherlock Holmes "Sherlock," and that is his older brother Mycroft.