Different cultures have different rules of social etiquette for addressing or referring to a person. German business people often use the titles "Herr," as in "Herr Direcktor" and "Frau," as in "Frau Direktor." The Japanese append suffixes to names. For example, "Michael-san" is a polite way to refer to someone named "Michael," as in "Mr. Michael" or "Herr Michael."

The use of first, middle, and last names varies from culture to culture as well as the order in which the names appear. For example, names in Icelandic phone books appear in order by first names then last. In Indonesia, people are known by only one name.

You must allow for differences in naming conventions. Do not assume the order of names or titles.