Stephen L. Carter -- Show Ms. Angelou Some Respect, Please

Using a stranger’s first name, I was taught, is a privilege, not a right, for the name is the stranger’s own possession, not mine. Using the surname, together with the proper title, was simple good manners. The rule applied with special force when addressing an elder, who was entitled to a special respect.

(Bloomberg Opinion) -"Nowadays, first names are everywhere: in fundraising appeals from nonprofit groups and politicians, in the sales patter of car dealers, in the voice at the other end of the toll-free help line. I quite recognize that we live in an era considerably less formal than the one during which I grew up, and the new era has its advantages. But when it involves erasing one’s surname from everyday interaction, the supposed informality becomes instead is a forced and creepy intimacy."

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-20/show-maya-angelou-some-respect-by-using-her-surname