History UsefulNotes / JapaneseHonorifics

* ''Manga/SPYxFamily'': Yor Forger is so polite that she uses the honorific "-san" with pretty much everyone, ''including'' her own stepdaughter Anya (the subs often translate this as "Miss Anya", a pretty weird way for a parent to call their child). The only exception seems to be her brother Yuri, whom she calls by name alone.

** Vivio uses "-mama" when referring to Nanoha or Fate [[spoiler:except for that one time she used "-san" to denote that [[CloningBlues she didn't feel that she was worthy of having parents]].]]

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'', Yunaka, a bubbly GenkiGirl [[spoiler:who actually happens to be a former assassin who's trying to put her old life behind her]], uses "-shi" on other characters for unspecified reasons.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', Florina, who's usually polite, uses "-san" on most people besides her older sisters (who get "[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseSiblingTerminology Onee-chan]]") and nobility (who get "-sama"), but uses yobisute on the noticeably younger Nino, and addresses her long-time best friend Lyndis by the AffectionateNickname of "Lyn" without honorifics. After entering Lyn's service as a knight, Florina starts using "-sama" on Lyn, along with her unabbreviated name, which Lyn reluctantly accepts, but switches back to "Lyn" if they get an A support.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', one of Corrin's voice sets, which was used in the drama [=CDs=] as well as some of her characters in ''Heroes'' ([[https://feheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Corrin:_Child_of_Dusk Child of Dusk]] and [[https://feheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Corrin:_Nightfall_Ninja_Act Nightfall Ninja Act]]), uses "-san" on virtually everyone, even her younger siblings.
** Also from ''Fates'', Hana usually uses "-sama" on her liege Sakura, but drops it in private(and occasionally slips up and forgets the honorific) due to being long-time friends with her. Amusingly, Sakura, who uses "-san" on Hana and anyone else who isn't part of her family, is actually more formal than Hana when they're alone.

** There's also the titular protagonist's consistent use of "Kaoru-dono" to show that he genuinely respects [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids her idealism]].
*** He also refers to Misao, as well as Toki and Shigure from TheMovie, as "-dono". Again, likely to show his respect to their thoughts and beliefs.
*** In Kenshin's case it's for the most part simply a normal way of old-school samurai speech. Kenshin as a rule speaks ''very'' politely and old-fashioned, so him using the "-dono" honorific is only to be expected, even if it hasn't yet fallen out of use even among the general population. Note that Kenshin technically isn't a samurai, but back in the Bakumatsu times anyone who can afford two swords ''was'' it... (Now, if he starts dropping said honorifics and switches his [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns personal pronoun]] from ''sessha'' to ''ore''... [[SuperPoweredEvilSide RUN]].)

* ''Otoosan'' (お父さん) / ''Okaasan'' (お母さん): Literally means one's father or mother respectively. It is strictly used as a standalone term and never attached to a name (obviously, you don't address your parent with their given name, unless you are estranged). ''Otoochan'' or ''Okaachan'' is like saying Daddy or Mommy. Unlike other familial honorifics, it can only be used for people they consider as their parent, whether biological or adopted. To refer to your own father or mother, use ''Chichi'' or ''Haha'', respectively.

** Fukuda finds it odd that Nakai is calling Nizuma, the author for whom they both work as assistants, “-sensei”, even though he's 17 years older than he is; Fukuda tends to use "-shisho" on Nizuma. Mashiro also finds it a bit strange that Takahama, one of his assistants, uses “-sensei” on him, and Takahama starts calling him "Mashiro-san" instead. The main characters are surprised to see that one of their assistants is female (despite having told Miyoshi that they would be male) because Miura used "-kun" on their last names.

** Ranma repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the ultra-rich buffoon Tatewaki Kunō's insistence that Ranma show him the respect due an upperclassman by addressing him as "{{Senpai|Kohai}}". The dub translates this mostly literally as demanding to be called "Upperclassman Kuno." Whenever Ranma does use ''-sempai'', he tends to either deliberately mispronounce Kunō's name so it sounds more like "no abilities" than "nine abilities", or (in the manga, naturally) use katakana to denote a mocking pronunciation of the term.

See also UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns, {{Keigo}}, UsefulNotes/KoreanHonorifics.

* ''O-'' (お) / ''Go-'' (御): The so-called beautifying prefix, though commonly used for {{Keigo}}, used to be a common honorific for people's names as well. ''O-'' is still encountered today as part of the familial honorifics (see above).

** Tohru Honda is called "Tohru-kun" by almost everyone else, despite being a very [[AllLovingHero loving]] girly girl; according to the series' creator Creator/NatsukiTakaya, she chose to have other characters use the "-kun" honorific for her since she considered it "a more dignified form of address" (and it also goes well with [[GenderBlenderName her masculine name]]). Anyone who calls her "Tohru-chan" instead is always portrayed negatively, like her {{Jerkass}} paternal relatives, for example. Tohru herself has [[{{Keigo}} very polite speech patterns]] and usually uses "-san" or "-kun" for other people, only using "-chan" for her two best friends Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima (whom she calls [[AffectionateNickname "Uo-chan" and "Hana-chan"]]). She also nearly always refers to people exclusively how she was first introduced to them, followed by "-san", resulting in Ritsu becoming "Ritchan-san", Mitsuru as "Mitchan-san", and Kazuma "Shishou-san."

** Interestingly enough, Hana's mother, who [[{{Keigo}} speaks very formally]], uses "-san" on her own daughter's first name.

** Negi himself refers to all of the girls as -san, since he's a {{Keigo}} user; the time he referred to a girl merely by her name ("Anya"), the girls actually were ''worried'' since it was obvious he felt close enough to her to drop honorifics.

** Masako is [[{{Ojou}} a high-class girl]] with [[{{Keigo}} VERY formal speech patterns]], and she refers to almost ''everyone'' as "-san". Including her maid Renjaku and [[spoiler:her little brother]] Mario. The ''only'' one she doesn't use this with is Kanba, whom she uses ''yobisute'' with [[spoiler:because they're HalfIdenticalTwins.]]

** [[TheBabyOfTheBunch Itsuki]] calls him "Uesugi-kun", partly due to her speaking in {{Keigo}} and trying to be polite while also keeping some distance from him.

** After discovering Tenchi's royal ancestry, Princess Ayeka almost invariably calls him "Tenchi-sama". In the dub this is translated as "Lord" matching the more archaic usage. (She also speaks in an [[{{Keigo}} archaic, formal Japanese]] which is rendered in English by the device of a British accent.)

** The only character who use honorifics in continuous fashion is Apu, who use {{Keigo}} to simulate his Indian accent.

* ''Anime/LoveLiveSunshine'': The girls of Aquor casually refer to each other with the "-chan" honorific regardless of their year, with the exception of [[ApronMatron Dia Kurosawa]] who is referred to with the more formal "-san". In episode 4 of season 2, Dia is worried that she isn't as connected with the first and second years since they don't refer to her with the casual "-chan" like her fellow third-years Kanan and Mari. At the end of the episode, Chika assures her that while they do find Dia very serious, they also enjoy how she helps keep Aquors on track. Though she and the others start calling her "Dia-chan" to make her feel better.

* ''-han'' (はん): [[KansaiRegionalAccent Kansai-ben]] version of ''-san''. Not used very much if the vowel sound of the last character ends with "i" , "u" or "n".

** Also from ''Fates'', Hana usually uses "-sama" on her liege Sakura, but drops it in private(and occasionally slips up and forgets the honorific) due to being long-time friends with her. Amusingly, Sakura, who uses "-san" on Hana and anyone else who isn't part of her family, is actually more formal than Hana in those cases.

* In ''Manga/GirlFriends'', the first chapter depicts Akko, a fellow classmate Mari had never really interacted with, suddenly talking to Mari out of nowhere and whisking her away to go hang out with her...and referring to her as 'Mari-chin'. Mari expresses much confusion mentally, but is so overwhelmed by everything Akko is doing, and is just pretty shy in general, so she doesn't say anything outwardly, and eventually starts calling Akko by her first name. That said, Akko can be polite when necessary, calling Mari "Mariko-san" when talking to Mari's mother, or "Kumakura-san" when asking their teacher about her.

** Vivio uses "-mama" when referring to [[HasTwoMommies Nanoha or Fate]] [[spoiler:except for that one time she used "-san" to denote that [[CloningBlues she didn't feel that she was worthy of having parents]].]]

* In ''Manga/TheDisappearanceOfNagatoYukiChan'', the version of Yuki involved is surprisingly respectful toward others, referring to even her best friend Ryoko as "[[LastNameBasis Asakura]]-san" (dubbed as "Miss Asakura").

* ''Literature/AccelWorld'':
** Kuroyukihime tends to use "-kun" on Haru and his friends (who are a year below her in school), including Chiyuri, who's also a girl.
** Yuniko "Niko" Kozuki, an elementary schooler who's leader of the Red Legion, gets annoyed when Chiyuri "Chiyu" Kurashima, a middle schooler, uses "-chan" on her ([[{{Woolseyism}} "sweetie" in the localization of the novels]]). Surprisingly, Chiyu calls Metatron, a God-class Enemy, "Metacchi."
** Seiji Noumi, a first-year, mockingly uses "-senpai" on Haru and the others, who end up becoming his enemies in the Dusk Taker arc. [[spoiler:The fact that Wolfram Cerberus III calls Haru that is proof that he has Noumi's personality]].

** Oddly enough, Chiyo uses "-chan" on Tomo despite addressing all her other classmates as "-san" (due to them being older); this most likely implies a lack of respect for her, Tomo typically being a {{jerkass}}.

* One notable example in ''Literature/{{Bakemonogatari}}'' is a sequence in which Senjougahara asks Araragi to call her "Senjougahara-sama", and he replies by sarcastically calling her "Senjougahara-chan" and promptly gets poked in his eyes.

* In ''Literature/{{Durarara}}'', Izaya refers to Shizuo as "Shizu-chan" (dubbed as Shizzy) while Shizuo refers to Izaya as "Izaya-kun." Both cases come from the utter contempt they feel for each other.

* In ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Haruhi refers to Koizumi as "Koizumi-kun" but Kyon just as [[HeyYou "Kyon"]], implying more familiarity with the latter. The uber-polite Koizumi addresses all the girls as "-san" which translates as "miss" in the English dubs ("Suzumiya-san" becomes "Miss Suzumiya.") Kyon addresses Mikuru as "Asahina-san," yet is on a FirstNameBasis with Haruhi, and doesn't use honorifics when speaking to [[VitriolicBestBuds Koizumi]], nor with Yuki (whom he calls just "Nagato").
** In the Disappearance movie and ''Manga/TheDisappearanceOfNagatoYukiChan'', the version of Yuki involved is surprisingly respectful toward others, referring to even her best friend Ryoko as "[[LastNameBasis Asakura]]-san" (dubbed as "Miss Asakura").

* In ''Literature/KyoKaraMaoh'', Yuuri, at age 15, is in high school and has therefore outgrown being called '-chan'...but much to his annoyance, his mother doesn't think so, and neither does his KnightTemplarBigBrother. (Their mother also calls said big brother '-chan', and he's ''college-age''.)

* ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''
** In the setting, the Kingdom of Sorcier, nobles are generally addressed as "-sama" by people of equal or lesser status, while most people who bother to be polite use "-san" on commoners. The localization uses appropriate titles (e.g. Lady Catarina, Prince Geordo and Duke Claes)
** Katarina, being relatively informal, generally doesn't use honorifics on her friends, although she does use -sama on Geordo and Alan, who are princes whereas she is a duke's daughter.
** Katarina's past self, "the monkey girl," called her best friend Atsuko Sasaki "Sasaki-san" while they were strangers, but switched to "Acchan" after they became closer. She even uses "Acchan-sama" on her when being especially grateful toward her.

* ''Literature/OthersidePicnic'':
** Toriko surprises Sorawo by calling her by her first name without honorifics just after they meet. Sorawo responds in kind after her surprise fades, but both of them occasionally use "-san" on the other.
** Runa Urumi, who's part of a cult who worships Satsuki, calls the latter "Satsuki-sama." She has all of her followers call her "Luna-sama," [[spoiler:including her mother, who would otherwise use yobisute on her daughter, and Sorawo notices how strange it is that Runa makes her mother use "sama" on her.]]
** Some of Sorawo's classmates call her "Kamikoshi-san," but her professor instead uses "Kamikoshi-kun" on her.

* In ''Literature/RascalDoesNotDreamOfBunnyGirlSenpai'', Mai Sakurajima asks Sakuta Azusagawa to use first names, since their given names are much shorter than their family names, but is adamant that he use "-san" on her. When she drops the "-kun" on him in a later scene, he calls her out on it.

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'':
** In the first volume of the light novel, Kirito mentions in passing that he and Klein would have used honorifics if they'd met in real life, but forgo that in-game because it would feel weird to.
** During the "Warmth of the Heart" story, Kirito's mildly annoyed when Lisbeth immediately starts using yobisute on him after hearing his name, and calls her "Lisbeth" in return. Finally, Lisbeth insists that if he's going to call her that, he might as well use "Lis" instead.
** In ''Mother's Rosary'', after Asuna agrees to help the Sleeping Knights, she and Yuuki agree to drop the "-san" from each other's names. Similarly, in ''Sister's Prayer'', while Yuuki and her sister initially address [[PosthumousCharacter Merida]] as "Merida-san," Merida says honorifics aren't necessary.
** At the start of the ''Underworld'' arc, Kirito says Eugeo, whom he's technically just met(long story), doesn't have to use "-kun" on him. Oddly enough, he doesn't seem to mind his girlfriend Asuna calling him "Kirito-kun."
** Kirito's aunt/adoptive mother, Midori, refers to her husband as "Minetaka-san."
** In ''Alicization'', Asuna gets very annoyed when Alice uses yobisute when referring to Kirito(whom Asuna still uses "-kun" on). Alice isn't the only one, since Lisbeth and Sinon do the same, but of those girls, Alice is the only one Asuna sees as a rival.
* ''Literature/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'':
** M generally doesn't use honorifics (at least not "-chan", which he doesn't find to his taste), although he does call Karen "Karen-san" when he meets her in real life.
** Karen herself uses "-san" on most people who appear to be older than her, but uses "-chan" on a group of high school girls [[spoiler:who turn out to be Team SHINC]], and doesn't use honorifics on her best friend, Miyu.
* In ''Literature/TheTatamiGalaxy'', the nameless protagonist is always addressed as "sempai" by potential love-interest Akashi, since he's a bit older than her.

** Kuroyukihme tends to use "-kun" on Haru and his friends (who are a year below her in school), including Chiyuri, who's also a girl.

** Kuroyukihme tends to use "-kun" on Haru and his friends(who are a year below her in school), including Chiyuri, who's also a girl.

* ''-[[SenpaiKohai senpai/-sempai]]'' (先輩): A term used to address an individual who is in a higher standing than oneself in a particular environment or context. It is most commonly used to refer to "upperclassmen" in stories set in academic contexts, but it more precisely means "mentor" or "senior", depending on context. It is also used in workplaces, clubs, and organizations for employees/members with seniority in relevance to the speaker. It does not take into account the ages of the speaker or the addressee; the employee who has been with the company longer will always still be the "senpai" to an employee who was recently hired, no matter their ages. Due to differences between [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseRomanization romanization]] systems, it can be spelled in Western languages as either "se''n''pai" {Kunrei} or "se''m''pai" {Hepburn}. (Both spellings are technically correct; the former is a closer transliteration of the Japanese spelling, but the latter better reflects the actual pronunciation.) Senpai/sempai can be attached to the end of someone's name, or be used on its own.

* ''-[[SenpaiKohai kouhai]]'' (後輩): The inverse of ''-senpai/-sempai'', meaning someone of a lower class year or lower seniority than the speaker in a particular environment/context. Strictly speaking, it's not an honorific since it's not normally attached to a name, and it's considered rude to use to a person's face. It's mostly used when referring to a person, rather than when addressing them. Ex. "He's my kouhai".

** In the light novel spinoff, ''Regarding Sayaka Saeki'', Sayaka, who gets into a relationship with her {{Senpai|Kohai}}, Chie Yuzuki, midway through the novel, generally refers to her as "Sempai" or "[[LastNameBasis Yuzuki]]-sempai," and only learns Chie's first name some time after they start going out. She briefly wonders what to call Chie, dismissing "Chie" as inappropriate considering that Chie is older, and not liking how "Chie-san" or "Chie-sempai" sound, so she settles on "Sempai."

* In the English translation of ''Manga/ExcelSaga'', Hyatt almost always refers to Excel as "Senior Excel" or just "Senior" -- a reasonable, if not exactly standard, usage that reflects the Japanese "Excel-[[SenpaiKohai sempai]]". Il Palazzo, their immediate superior, addresses Excel (as an example of its use in a context other than schoolboys) as "Excel-kun".

** Seina Maki and Miki Aihara's relationship progression is shown by their use of honorifics(or lack thereof). When they're strangers, they call each other "Aihara-senpai" and "Maki-san," a polite form of address between a SenpaiKohai pair, but after Miki gets Maki's love letter and decides to start out as friends, she switches to "Maki-chan." After Miki accepts Maki's apology for [[DudeShesLikeInAComa kissing her while she's asleep]], Miki asks Maki to call her by her first name, and Maki calls her "Miki-san." When Maki [[spoiler:assaults a yearmate of Miki who is badmouthing the latter]], Miki snaps her out of it by calling her by her first name without honorifics, and the two have a RelationshipUpgrade shortly thereafter.

* One notable example in ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}'' is a sequence in which Senjougahara asks Araragi to call her "Senjougahara-sama", and he replies by sarcastically calling her "Senjougahara-chan" and promptly gets poked in his eyes.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', Izaya refers to Shizuo as "Shizu-chan" (dubbed as Shizzy) while Shizuo refers to Izaya as "Izaya-kun." Both cases come from the utter contempt they feel for each other.

* In ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', Haruhi refers to Koizumi as "Koizumi-kun" but Kyon just as [[HeyYou "Kyon"]], implying more familiarity with the latter. The uber-polite Koizumi addresses all the girls as "-san" which translates as "miss" in the English dubs ("Suzumiya-san" becomes "Miss Suzumiya.") Kyon addresses Mikuru as "Asahina-san," yet is on a FirstNameBasis with Haruhi, and doesn't use honorifics when speaking to [[VitriolicBestBuds Koizumi]], nor with Yuki (whom he calls just "Nagato").

* In ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'', Yuuri, at age 15, is in high school and has therefore outgrown being called '-chan'...but much to his annoyance, his mother doesn't think so, and neither does his KnightTemplarBigBrother. (Their mother also calls said big brother '-chan', and he's ''college-age''.)

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''

* ''LightNovel/OthersidePicnic'':

* In ''LightNovel/RascalDoesNotDreamOfBunnyGirlSenpai'', Mai Sakurajima asks Sakuta Azusagawa to use first names, since their given names are much shorter than their family names, but is adamant that he use "-san" on her. When she drops the "-kun" on him in a later scene, he calls her out on it.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'':

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnline'':

** The series focuses on Liebe Girls' Academy salon, in which the employees roleplay as students at an all-girls' school, similar to ''LightNovel/MariaWatchesOverUs''. In it, underclassmen are expected to address their seniors as "-sama", but instead call their "schwester" (a term for a one half of a pair of girls who exchange their respective kreusz) as "OneeSama". Upperclassmen usually use "-san" on their juniors.

* ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' gives rather interesting spins on the trope, depending heavily on who is talking. On one hand we have NiceGuy Tsubasa, Misaki and PrincelyYoungMan Misugi, who are rather soft-spoken and refer to their fellow sport boys as "-kun". On the other side of the spectre there's low-class SelfMadeMan Kojiro Hyuuga, who uses ''yobisute'' aka no pronouns with people his age. In the middle there's Genzo Wakabayashi, who also is a PrincelyYoungMan but, unlike Misugi, tends to use ''yobisute'' with others.

** Ranma repeatedly refuses to acknowledge the ultra-rich buffoon Tatewaki Kunō's insistence that Ranma show him the respect due an upperclassman by addressing him as "{{Sempai|Kohai}}". The dub translates this mostly literally as demanding to be called "Upperclassman Kuno." Whenever Ranma does use ''-sempai'', he tends to either deliberately mispronounce Kunō's name so it sounds more like "no abilities" than "nine abilities", or (in the manga, naturally) use katakana to denote a mocking pronunciation of the term.

* In the English translation of ''Manga/ExcelSaga'', Hyatt almost always refers to Excel as "Senior Excel" or just "Senior" -- a reasonable, if not exactly standard, usage that reflects the Japanese "Excel-[[SempaiKohai sempai]]". Il Palazzo, their immediate superior, addresses Excel (as an example of its use in a context other than schoolboys) as "Excel-kun".

** Seina Maki and Miki Aihara's relationship progression is shown by their use of honorifics(or lack thereof). When they're strangers, they call each other "Aihara-senpai" and "Maki-san," a polite form of address between a SempaiKohai pair, but after Miki gets Maki's love letter and decides to start out as friends, she switches to "Maki-chan." After Miki accepts Maki's apology for [[DudeShesLikeInAComa kissing her while she's asleep]], Miki asks Maki to call her by her first name, and Maki calls her "Miki-san." When Maki [[spoiler:assaults a yearmate of Miki who is badmouthing the latter]], Miki snaps her out of it by calling her by her first name without honorifics, and the two have a RelationshipUpgrade shortly thereafter.

** Juvia uses "-san" on most people who are around her age or older, which is why Lucy is surprised that she uses "-kun" on Gajeel, Juvia's former guildmate from Phantom Lord. After Lucy and Juvia defeat Vidaldus together, Lucy, noticing that Juvia once called out her name without honorifics, suggests that she doesn't have to call her "-san" anymore, since they're friends.

** Interestingly enough, Sumika is somewhat more formal with her close friends Mai and Nene than she is with Hime, Mitsuki and Kanoko, who are merely acquaintances [[spoiler:although the latter does eventually become Sumika's schwester]]. She uses "-san" on the former group and "-chan" on the latter group due to the former being older. The only person she refuses to use honoriics on is Yoko Goeido, whom she hates with a passion.