さん、さま、くん、ちゃん

Family name -> Given name

In English the order of name is first name => family name, but it is family name => first name in Japan. For example for Japanese name “やまもといちろう Yamamoto Ichirou”, やまもと is family name and いちろう is first name.

Family name + First name
山本 一郎
やまもと いちろう
Yamamoto Ichirou

Example:
私の名前は山本一郎です。(わたしのなまえはやまもといちろうです。)
My name is Ichirou Yamamoto.

Mr/Ms in Japanese

Anyone who worked with Japanese people in business have read the email with the name like “Yamamoto san” or “Yamamoto sama”.  -san or -sama means “dear” in English in business. “-san” or “-sama” can be used for men and women since Japanese does not change it like Mr. , Mrs. , Ms. …etc. San, Sama, Dono can be used for all people but the level of respect is different.

san, sama or kun? (prefix)

 [name] + san/sama/kun...
Kana romaji respect to –
さん san ★★ all
さま sama ★★★ all
どの dono ★★★ all
くん kun men
ちゃん chan women
たん tan ? ?

やまもとくん、おはようございます。
Yamamoto kun, ohayougozaimasu.
Good morning, Mr. Yamamoto.

If I am 20 years old, I say “Good morning” to Yamamoto like this in Japanese.

He is…

age he is Conversation
18 Friend
Male
山本君、おはよう。
Yamamoto kun, Ohayou.
33 Colleague
Male
山本さん、おはようございます。
Yamamoto san, Ohayougozaimasu.
19 Friend
Female
山本さん、おはよう。
Yamamoto san, Ohayou.
40 Shogun 山本殿、おはようございます。
Yamamoto dono, Ohayougozaimasu.

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