More About names and titles

names and titles

Names

Your name is either your whole name or one part of your name:

My name is Maria.

His name is Tom Smith.

Your last name or family name (also called surname in British English) is the name that all members of your family share.

Your first name/​names (formal forename) is/​are the name(s) your parents gave you when you were born. In British English some people use the expression Christian name(s) to refer to a person’s first name(s).

Your middle name(s) is/​are any name(s) your parents gave you other than the one that is placed first. The initial of this name is often used as part of your name, especially in America:

John T. Harvey

Your full name is all your names, usually in the order: first + middle + last name

A woman’s maiden name is the family name she had before she got married. Some women keep this name after they are married and do not use their husband’s name. In North America, married women often use their maiden name followed by their husband’s family name:

Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Titles

Mr (for both married and unmarried men)

Mrs (for married women)

Miss (for unmarried women)

Ms (a title that some women prefer to use as it does not distinguish between married and unmarried women)

Doctor, Professor, President, Vice-President, Reverend (or Rev), etc.

The correct way to talk to someone is:

first name, if you know them well:

Hello, Maria.

or title + surname:

Hello, Mr Brown.

or Doctor (medical), Professor, etc. on its own:

Thank you, Doctor.

This is only used for a very limited number of titles.