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Not sure I'm following you -- yes, the Queen knighted him. How does the multicultural part come in? (Women receive the same award but it's called a Damehood a
by cjbprime 10y ago
Not sure I'm following you -- yes, the Queen knighted him. How does the multicultural part come in? (Women receive the same award but it's called a Damehood and their prefix is Dame.)
- nindalf 10y agoIf Kazuo Ishiguro is knighted, should he be addressed as Sir Kazuo or Sir Ishiguro? The point being that people of Japanese descent might place their first names after their last names.
- philipov 10y agoThat's a language issue, not a culture issue. Normally, one uses the name ordering appropriate to the language one is speaking at the moment. Therefore, the question is equivalent to "What is the Japanese translation of 'Sir'"
- cjbprime 10y agoThis question doesn't seem very relevant to knighthoods. Whatever would be appropriate to call someone as their given name, rather than family name, would go after "Sir". It's not very complicated.
- Nadya 10y agoSir Kazuo. With some exceptions - Japanese people "normalize" their names to English name order of Given Name, Family Name when writing or speaking in English. Some choose not to, usually out of national pride, but it is most common to normalize the name to the target language. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name#Japanese_names_in_English_and_other_Western_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name#Japanese_names_i...
- Symbiote 10y agoAn example: Sir Ong-Siang. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Ong_Siang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Ong_Siang
- robotresearcher 10y agoA sidebar issue: all these rules apply to knighthoods from the UK crown only. And under these rules non-Brits may be knighted but do not use the title 'sir'. Thus Bill Gates KBE is not known as Sir Bill. (edit: Today I learned that Kazuo Ishiguro is British. The statement below is completely wrong. I've managed to get his nationality wrong while enjoying his books for 20 years!) So in the specific case of Kazuo Ishiguro, the sir does not apply. For Brits with family-first names, see the other answers.
- DanBC 10y agoKazuo Ishiguro is British. He's not called "Sir" because he has an OBE. He needs a GBE or DBE for the "Sir". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_British_Empire
- OJFord 10y agoAnd were he not British, he would not be entitled as such - Gates and Geldof iirc are such examples; sometimes (incorrectly) titled 'Sir' in press.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Godel_unicode 10y agoIt's fortunate, then, that it's Sir GivenName, not Sir FirstName.