first name meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

first name

nounalso spelled first-name

Etymology From Middle English firste name, first nam, equivalent to first + name.

The first element of a full name, particularly when it could also be surname in East Asian and other cultural traditions.

In a structure typical for East Asia cultures, first names are usually used as family names. It usually identifies that person is a one of the members of a group (typically a family or clan) who have a common family name.

Synonym of given name, particularly when it forms the first element of a full name.

Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16.[…]Children address teachers by their first names. Even 15-year-olds do no more than 30 minutes' homework a night.2013 July 19, Peter Wilby, “Finland's education ambassador spreads the word”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2014, page 30:

verb

Etymology Denominal verb of first name.

Rare To address (someone) by first name.

Physicians are first-named only by close family, friends, and colleagues in the United States. […] First-naming has extended itself to one group who formerly were sacrosanct: teachers and professors. […] Since it is, indeed, a privileged patient who first-names his or her physician, one cannot help feeling, in many such instances, that this is a way of affirming special status.1982, Elaine Chaika, “Style of speech”, in Language: The Social Mirror, Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, sections 18 (Summons, greetings, address) and 21 (The United States, a case in point), pages 46–48:
Most adults are in the habit of addressing children, menial workers and the disadvantaged by their first names. […] As onerous as this arrogation may appear, it is not nearly as malignant as the present custom of first-naming women, minorities and the elderly, particularly if they happen to be ill. […] The most useful test of whether unsought informality presents problems is this: when practitioners feel comfortable being first-named by their patients.1983 September, Peter H[artley] Gott, “Forced Familiarity”, in Connecticut Medicine: The Journal of the Connecticut State Medical Society, volume 47, number 9, New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut State Medical Society, →ISSN, pages 578–579:

1 more example

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.2016, Sarah Conrad Sours, “Mad Manners: Courtesy, Conflict, and Social Change”, in Ann W[illiams] Duncan, Jacob L[ynn] Goodson, editors, The Universe is Indifferent: Theology, Philosophy and Mad Men, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: The Lutterworth Press, published 2017, →DOI, →ISBN, Part 1 (Business Ethics), pages 55–56: