Otdfbt

Would it be rude if I called you by your surname only?

It depends.

How well do I know you? What is our relationship? Is there a significant age gap between us? Are we in a fraternity or the military?

As a student, I never once called a professor by only their surname when speaking to their face, formally or otherwise. They were always older than me (even if just by a few years) and we never had such an informal relationship that surname alone seemed appropriate.

I did call some professors by just their given name. This was usually when they specifically requested it or when I knew them quite well. As I rose higher through the ranks in academia

(freshman -> sophomore -> ..... -> graduate student -> PhD candidate....)

calling professors by their given name became more common.

I'm sure there could be some professors that would be fine with being called by their surname alone. Most would not be, however. This is not unique to academia. Most people in their 40s do not like being called by just their surname by 18 year old kids. Even when I was a 25 year old graduate student, I'll admit that it would sort of bother me if students called me by only my surname (even outside of class). We weren't in the army or something. Just call me by my first name.

Obviously saying something like "I had combinatorics from Levenworth and topology from Kostanza" when speaking to fellow students is a different story. There's no need to worry about offending someone when referring to them by surname alone when they are not there.

In the U.S., in this year, at my age, I would be surprised if anyone addressed me by my surname. But that is a very different thing from reference to my work, where I'd mostly expect people to say "Garrett, [year]", or something similar. Still, in an in-house situation, to hear a speaker say "Paul's work..." would not be jarring, and might be more congenial than "Garrett's work...".

... although the times that a speaker has said "Garrett's work" and waved to me in the audience were perfectly fine.

I guess some nod of respect is the only substantive point, and this is dependant on the local culture... for which there is no clean algorithm.

In traditional Western culture, addressing a person by his family name only is mostly done in a superior-to-inferior context (military, very formal work environment, strict and old-fashioned school environment) with the nuance that the superior uses it that way to assert his superiority (somewhat rude, but the inferior has to swallow his pride). As such I would say it would be considered rude, or at least ignorant, if a student addresses a professor like that.

Using a person's given name is considered more intimate or at least informal in Western culture, typically only used in cases like:

• family (only some relations, depending)


• friends


• colleagues, only in cases where the corporate culture is less formal or explicitly states it (but that is the case in the vast majority of companies nowadays)


• when preferred by a person (typically, the person would introduce him/herself with something like "Hi, I'm firstname" or "Just call me firstname".)

If none of these cases apply, it is safer to use a more formal form of address, until the other party invites you to use a less formal address. The more senior party would extend such an invitation (see last point above). If you think your are (fairly) equal to a new person you are meeting (e.g., a fellow student, or joining a company and meeting colleagues) it should be OK to invite them to address you by your given name.

The other point nobody has mentioned, is that if not (yet) on an informal level, it should always be OK to address the other person by their title (only). An American professor should not take exception to being addressed as "Hello, Professor!" when met off-campus.

In general life it should be OK to address a stranger by an assumed general title like "mister", "miss", "mrs" ("sir", "madam") etc., and the person should have the manners to correct you with good grace if he/she prefers a different title (e.g., "Oh, I'm professor Smith..."). Or a business card/credit card/letterhead etc. should give hints at the person's title, if such materials are available. (Due to feminism, "Miss" and "Mrs" are problematic, but the proper replacements for such is another topic.)

As Vladhagen’s answer suggests, this question is highly dependent on the relationship you have with the professor.

As a general rule, I try to match the level of formality that I see from a professor. For example, if a professor signs emails to me with just their first name, then I respond using their first name in an email. If I see them in person at this point, I think it would be fine to use the first name (but I typically do not). When in doubt, always err on the side of formality.

If you have never used their first name (or if they have never indicated that using their first name in an academic setting is appropriate), then I would not recommend using it if you see them out and about. This could create a potentially uncomfortable dynamic, especially if other students do not refer to them by first name.

As a grad student, one of my professors has indicated that they are perfectly fine with students addressing them by first name only. I would personally prefer to be more formal, but since my relationship with this professor is very casual and friendly (and it would almost be weird to say “Dr. X” or “Professor X” at this point), I’ve adopted a middle ground of omitting the title and only calling them “last name” in both academic and non-academic situations. It is important to note, though, that they are a younger professor.

Yes, it is very rude.

This form of address, unless specifically requested, is typical of a superior to a subordinate. Think corporate management, "So, I hear Smith did some good work on this project, but Brown really needs to work harder." It's the sort of address used when one refers to many people often and perceives them to be of lower rank.

Depending on your comfort with various levels of formality, you can use a first name, or a prefix and last name. But never a last name only, unless the recipient suggests it.

(This is in Australia, where formality levels are somewhat more relaxed than many other places, and the use of the first name is quite common even on a student-professor basis.)

What about just addressing him as "Sir" or "Mam" in case of a woman.

"Hello sir" is a common approach to addressing superiors when using English, in Europe, outside of work I believe.

Personally I would find using surname only very odd. I work in academia myself, but I have to say that in Europe and in the field of natural sciences the level is quite informal. Being on a first name basis with your professor or supervisor is quite normal once you're not just a bachelor or master's student anymore.

Superficially, yes, it is rude, but really more true that it is just weird.

However, let us assume that:

• The professor is American


• You are from a non-English speaking background

In that case, the professor will most likely interpret your language as odd, but not intentionally rude.

The only correct answer is:

Ask the professor how they prefer you address them.

There are many ways people call each other face to face, and some might be more familiar to the professor. Even if you hear everybody calling professor one way, it might not be their preferred choice.

So, ask and then follow with whatever they say is the best. It is their name, you have no say in how to call someone

I am honestly baffled that so many people seem to agree that it is rude or unusual to refer to a teacher or professor by just their surname. Perhaps it's just where I'm from (grew up in Colorado and went to university in Washington state), but this practice was extremely common between students and would only be slightly unusual when directed to the professor. A question like "Do you have Jones or Smith for Calculus II this semester?" would be totally normal, and I had a couple professors who went primarily by just their surnames.

Keep in mind this was a relatively informal university setting and we came to know our professors relatively well (I ate dinner at a few of my professors' houses), so this may just be an isolated cultural difference.

The most important thing to me would be to respect their wishes in how you refer to them directly, and many professors clarified their preferences at the beginnings of semesters. Some would prefer you use just their first names, some their title and surname, and some didn't care at all.

As a general rule ('Dr.X on campus, X off-campus), I would find this strange.

However, I have a very common first name, and some friends do call me by my (short) last name. If we have been on a first-name basis for a little while, I don't mind at all. However, it would be a little strange to hear it from a distant acquaintance or stranger.

If you have a very jocular relationship, it might be okay, depending on your/the prof's background and relative ages. If it is more 'professionally friendly', I would avoid it.

In South Asia, we never address by name. We use Sir/Madam.

I guess it depends on the society you live in.

Even when I was a freshman in college, there was a prof in a very small class (like my Honors Calculus class) that sorta announced on the first day that, only within that class, he preferred first name with everyone. But he warned us that outside of that class in the department, it might be frowned on.

When I bumped into him off campus, it was "Michael", not "Dr. Gregory".

By the time I was a senior and grad student, I was on a first name basis with all of the profs in my very small electrical engineering department at the U of North Dakota. Certainly with my adviser.

But there are other professional/client situations that, until the person with an honorific tells you "Call me Bill, please" (like my regular physician), I think it's appropriate to address them the way you have originally when you are first introduced. "Mr.", "Ms.", "Dr.", "Prof.", "Dean", "Pres.", "Judge", "Gov." until they change it. But, if they do not, you have the right to ask them to address you formally in a reciprocal manner. But you don't have to ask that either.

(I happen to sorta know the Attorney General of the state of Vermont, but he's always been "TJ" to me. I also know the Lt Governor and he's "David". And the Mayor of the town I'm in is "Miro", but I like to say "Hizzoner".)

I would perceive this as rude. In fact I think it is significantly more rude than just using the given name. Addressing someone by their given name suggests you are treating them as an equal, which some professors will be fine with but others might consider presumptuous. Addressing someone by just their surname, on the other hand, has connotations of treating them as an inferior; historically, it's how an employer would have addressed a servant.

If you want something informal but not offensive, how about "dude"?

In India, we usually address a professor as Sir/Madam/Professor + last name, whether in a formal or informal setting. In fact, I don't even know the first names of many of my professors - in most cases, I only know their initials and last name.

However, some notable exceptions introduced themselves by their first name and took offense to it being prefixed with Sir/Madam, and in those cases we addressed them by their first name in all situations. These professors were the exception to the above norm. However, when in doubt, we would always refer to a professor as Sir/Madam/Professor + last name.

When a professor is being addressed in the third person, we would refer to them in the same manner (sometimes dropping the prefix when in an informal setting - i.e. among students with no professors part of the conversation).

I'm at a community college in California, and once in a while I do get a student addressing me as "Crowell." I've never asked why, because I didn't want to make it seem like I was getting uptight about my status.

My guess is that it's based on confusion and uncertainty on the student's part. At a community college, some professors have PhD's and some don't. Therefore the student may think that the options are "Hi, Mr. Crowell" (as in high school) or "Hi, Dr. Crowell." They don't know whether I have a PhD, so they don't know which is appropriate. It doesn't occur to them that "Hi, Professor Crowell" would be a safe alternative.

As a test of my hypothesis, we could see if others who have experienced this are at community colleges.

Community college students are often the first in their family to go to college, so they may lack any experience to serve as a point of reference on something like this.

Another possibility is that these are just students who object to titles and roles of authority on principle.

It totally depends on the professor. Obviously, it's weird to start calling someone by their last name but in case of some people it's common practice. I think the best known example is the character Cosmo Kramer on the television show Seinfeld.

In his Wikipedia page says the following about his surname:

Kramer was known only as "Kramer" during the show's first five seasons (from 1989 to 1994), though in "The Seinfeld Chronicles", Jerry referred to him as "Kessler", which was his original name for the show, until it was changed to "Kramer".

Indeed the difference here, is that Kramer and the characters he interacts with are mostly peers. In case of a student-professor relationship, it would be more common to add a title. The exception being when the professor says so, e.g.

You may refer to me as Kramer

You can just call me Kramer

It's not very common, but it has a certain appeal (as evidenced in the TV series).