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Friendly Address Privileges
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Dominic Greene: My friends call me Dominic.
James Bond: I'm sure they do.
When a character wants to make things a little less formal, perhaps to show how amicable and gracious he is, or just because he's laid back and being friendly, he might decide to drop the formalities and invite others to use his first name, or even a nickname.
A common subversion is for the other character to then pointedly abstain from using the more casual name, or for the first character to specify that while his friends call him that, the character they are talking to shouldn't.
A subtrope of Don't Call Me Sir. When subverted, often overlaps with They Call Me Mr Tibbs.
Examples
Comic Books
- Gambit plays with this a little in Uncanny Xmen
To my friends, de name's Remy LeBeau. To my enemies, it's Gambit! You can go on ahead an' forget dat first name right about now.
- In the comics continuation of Gargoyles, an English gargoyle called Staghart insists that his friends call him "Amp". Lexington is the only one who does. Perhaps they're meant to be more than just friends?
Film
- Played with in Blazing Saddles.
Sheriff Bart: What's your name?
The Waco Kid: Well, my name is Jim, but most people call me... Jim.
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off:
Criminal Kid: You didn't tell me your name.
Jeannie: It's Jean, but a lot of guys call me Shauna.
Criminal Kid: Okay, Jean.
- From Disney's Hercules:
Megara: Megara. My friends call me Meg. At least they would if I had any friends.
- Invoked and promptly averted in Raising Arizona.
Leonard Smalls. My friends call me Lenny... but I ain't got no friends.
- RoboCop 3 has another variation His friends call him Murphy, but the OCP executive can call him RoboCop.
- Quantum Of Solace included the quote above. Greene trying to act gracious, while Bond is being pretty blunt with the fact that he doesn't like him.
- From Zardoz, when Zed sees that Arthur Frayn aka Zardoz is Not Quite Dead:
Frayn: My Brutal friends call me Zardoz.
(Frayn stabs Zed with a collapsible knife)
- From Die Hard:
Hans Gruber: Touching, Cowboy, touching. Or should I call you, Mr. McClane? Mr. Officer John McClane of the New York Police Department?
John McClane: Sister Teresa called me Mr. McClane in the third grade. My friends call me John, and you're neither, shithead.
- Inverted in Real Genius.
Kent: Hello, Jerry!
Dr. Hathaway: I told you before, Kent: you don't get to use my first name.
- Muppet Treasure Island:
Jim: But we're just cabin boys, Mr. Silver.
Long John: Long John, to his friends.
Long John: I could never kill you, lad. You're honest and brave and true. You didn't learn any of that from me.
Jim: I learned it from my friends, Mr. Silver.
- The American President combines this with Everybody Calls Him Barkeep and Don't Call Me Sir to produce a Defied Trope. Even President Shepherd's lifelong friend (and Chief of Staff) A.J. refuses to address him as anything except "Mr. President" and "Sir", as an ongoing theme of the movie is the question of where Andrew Shepherd ends and the President of the United States begins.
Literature
Live-Action TV
- From the Criminal Minds episode, "Riding the Lightning."
(JJ enters the room where Hotch is speaking with convicted serial killer Jacob)
Jacob: Oooh! Who are you?
JJ: My friends call me JJ...
Jacob: Well... hello, JJ!
JJ: You're not my friend. You can call me Jennifer.
- The Dukes of Hazzard: Boss Hogg uses his Speed Trap to stop any famous singers passing through. The fine is six months in jail or one song at the Boar's Nest. Tammy Wynette gets stopped, and sings for her freedom.
 After the song the Dukes go up to her and congratulate her, each calling her Miss Wynette, to which she replies "you can call me Tammy." Then Boss Hogg steps up.
Boss Hogg: That fine performance of yours squares the fine on this speeding ticket, Tammy.
- In Saturday Night Live's "Hogwart's Academy" sketch in Lindsay Lohan's episode, when Snape briefly gets distracted by Hermione's breasts, he tells her to call him Severus. Then he snaps out of it and says to call him Professor Snape.
- I Claudius: Castor, the nickname by which Drusus Julius Caesar is commonly known, invokes this with Sejanus.
Sejanus "Ah, Castor, how nice to see you."
Castor "I'm Castor to my friends, Sejanus."
- Played for Laughs in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where Phil throws a party and one of the high class guests obliviously asks that both Will and Phil call him what his friends call him: "Whitey". Because of his white hair. Naturally, they awkwardly refuse.
- Oddly played in Stargate SG-1. Upon meeting for the first time in the show (Daniel talking to a severely injured and possibly unconscious Cam in the hospital before that probably doesn't count), Daniel and Cam invite each other to use their first names. For the rest of the show and through the two direct-to-DVD movies, they call each other exclusively "Jackson" and "(Colonel) Mitchell."
Music
- Singer Eric Bogle traditionally introduces himself in song at the start of a concert. One of the introduction songs goes:
My name is Eric, some folk call me Eck,
Call me Ricky and I'll break your neck,
If you're feeling formal, Mr Bogle will do,
But to my friends it's Eric, and I hope that means you.
Video Games
- From Deadly Premonition:
York: FBI Special Agent Francis York Morgan. Please, just call me York. That's what everyone calls me.
- Averted in the introductory level of Hitman: Blood Money, when the guard at the amusement park gate asks for 47's name.
47: Names are for friends, so I don't need one.
- From Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Ventus is constantly saying
Ventus: Call me Ven!
- In Hakuouki, Chizuru politely calls all of the Shinsengumi captains by their family names and with appropriate honorifics, but Toudou Heisuke almost immediately encourages her to call him by his given name since they're nearly the same age.
Western Animation
- From Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension:
- Rudolph's Shiny New Year:
I'm 1776, but my friends call me Sev. Will you be my friend?
- The Simpsons, when Homer and Flanders first meet:
Ned Flanders: The handle says Flanders, but my friends call me Ned!
Homer Simpson: (bored) Hi, Flanders.
- South Park, in the episode Damien.
Pip: My name is Philip, but the kids call me Pip because they hate me.
Damien: Then I shall call you Pip.
Pip: Right-o.
Real Life
- Comes up from time to time in organizations with fairly rigid hierarchies, such as the armed forces. Depending on the organization, this is often officially prohibited in order to maintain discipline between the ranks.
- This also becomes a subject of some Interservice Rivalry related ribbing, as different branches of the same service (such as the United States Army and the Air Force) may have different cultural attitudes towards this sort of thing.*
The US Air Force, for a variety of reasons, is seen as far more relaxed in this area than the Army, for instance.
- Overheard on a WWII submarine: "Attention, this is the Captain. The Admiral will arrive for inspection in five minutes. Please don't call me Jack while he's around."
- For many veterans groups, they wear whatever nicknames they had gained during military service with pride even if the moniker is degoratory or part of an in-joke. It is not uncommon to refer to the officers with their ranks as well, a memory of having served under their command. This inverts Don't Call Me Sir since practically no one else refers to them by these names or titles anymore.
- Some people may use friendly adress (calling someone else by their first name or nickname) without having the privilege to do so, as a way of implying that they want or expect this privilege. Telemarketers are very fond of this, since they'd like you to consider them a close friend who only have your best interests at heart. Obviously, it tends to backfire horribly.
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