Our prime minister’s name is 鳩山由紀夫(Hatoyama Yukio). Hatoyama is his surname, and Yukio is his given name. In the Japanese language, the “first” name is a surname and the second name is a given name. Are there any other languages in which surnames come first?
In Russian the usual order is “Surname - given name - patronymic name”, but it you are celebrity (Aleksandr Sergeyechich Pushkin, for example) the order is “given name - patronymic name - surname”
Yes and no. That depends. In official forms it is common in Germany giving the surname at first and comma separated the given name following. Sobieroy, Horst
In the spoken language, if somebody introduce oneself, we often use this form. First we gave our first name and second our given name. Like in Bond films: my name is Bond, James Bond. It will be a litte difficult if both names are like given name as in a colleague of mine. He called Lothar Günther or Günther, Lothar. So you can keep apart surname and given name.
well, in my personal ID (Ausweis), at first comes my surname and then my given name.
The same in the driver’s license. But on a credit card, health insurance card- it is written conversely.
In official letters, newspapers, TV it is usual to write and speak the given name at first.
As you see, it depends.
yes Horst, but on a further education course we were told, that the comma separated form is a bit obsolete nowadays.
In Bavaria they talk about people still as ‘der Schmidt Manfred’ , ‘die Kohl Claudia’ etc. In the north this form was quite common until the midlle of the last century (Fischers Fritz, Meiers Willy, Petersens Bubi), but always with the genitive ‘S’, as far as I remember.
A polite order of addressing or referencing any person, not just a celebrity, in Russia before the revolution was: 1) a given name; 2) a patronymic name; 3) a surname. Examples: 1) Petr 2) Ilych 3) Chaikovskiy; 1) Ivan 2) Ivanovich 3) Sukin; 1) Anna 2) Petrovna 3) Kern.
Just inverse to the common order of today mentioned by Rasana.
I have learned it from my physics adviser, Aleksey Michailovich Elyashevich, in Leningrad, the city in which, at least 20 years ago, a percentage of the descendants of the pre-revolution intelligentsia was higher then the average in the USSR. (Moskow had experienced a huge migration from outside).
I have also seen the confirmation to that in some memoirs about the known Russian poetess Akhmatova. ( who lived in Leningrad, of course). Looking at the pile of the readers’ envelopes, she spotted among them one, labeled as (to:) “Anne Andrevne Ackhmatovoi”, in contast to many others, labeled in the inverse order (to:) Akhmatovoi Anne Andreevne. She uttered with pleasure: "Finally, an intelligent (this word has a specific meaning in Russian) is writing to me.
junair, it may be that the comma separated form is obsolete nowadays, you are absolutely right. But it is still a good way to separate given name from surname without the genitive ‘s’. I am afraid that I am German of the old school (linguistically at least). Indeed, commonly we use our given name at first in Germany.
This subtleties may be interested to Russians only. However, what happened is, probably, the Bolsheviks just killed or expelled most of the Russian intelligentsia . For example, both (or may be even 3 - I don’t remember now) husbands of Akhmatova were shot by the regime.
In my association, in the Russian army a person would be addressed, first of all, bu his surname, all other names omitted: private Petrov, private Rayan. But, surprisingly, the same is nearly true in the soviet schools. The teachers call kids by the surname, and the kids would more often than not call or reference themselves using their surnames.
These forums are addictive. The very first Google search has shown that I have spelled the surname of the famous Russian poetess wrong!. In English, it is Ahmatova.
That very first search has given a You Tube with the nice views of Leningrad - Petersburg, accompanied with the nice singing from Anna Andreevna Ahmatova. The fans of learning Russian would be rewarded for deleting a space from the link:
Sorry for hijacking the tread.
I was urgently warned by a fan of the Russian poetry that the correct spelling of the noble poetess’ surname, who would have never liked it put before her given name, is, still, Akhamatova.
This link with the correct spelling shows her nice portrait by a known Russian artist ( Petrov-Vodkin) and claims too many of my favorite Russian male poets to have had fallen in love with her.
I love people who love poetry.
in Lithuania at first called by name.Surname is oficial name and dont used between friends
in Lithuania at first called by name.Surname is oficial name and dont used between friends