Is it socially acceptable to go by a surname?

Posted by r2dtsuga@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 15 comments

Thinking of going by my surname as someone in the UK. Some of my family think it would be odd but is it actually that uncommon? It's also an Arabic first name too (but more common as a last name) so I'm not sure if that would be confusing.

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Notsurewhattoput1@reddit

Course it is. Sometimes if I'm in another place I'll take on a new identity. Royston Shotov was my last name, he moans when he eats yoghurts and insists horses aren't real.

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No-Preparation-4632@reddit

I would quite like to introduce Royston Shotov to people to see how they react.

If I was studying psychology I guarantee you I could get funding and claim that as genuine research

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Notsurewhattoput1@reddit

All yours, I've got loads of characters I play, one day I hope to get back to who I was.

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Educational_Worth906@reddit

When I was at school, long time ago, teachers would only address us by our surnames. We did the same with each other, unless we were really good mates perhaps (bog-standard comprehensive back in the eighties).

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hyper-casual@reddit

At a rough guess, 70% of my mates go by their surname or a variant of it.

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iolaus79@reddit

I know someone who does - he's Iranian - to be honest I don't know his first name

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Personal-Listen-4941@reddit

That’s a total non-issue. Some people go by a middle name or their surname. It’s easy to forget sometimes that name isn’t actually their name and then be surprised when you see their real name in something official

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movetotherhythm@reddit

It would be a bit odd for a partner/family member to call you by your surname, but I go by mine with around 50% of people and it’s never felt any kind of strange

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