Talk:Captain Malatesta/@comment-33599486-20180106040934/@comment-1140743-20200802214011

It depends.

If I sat next to Adam Yearling and didn't know him and wanted to get his attention, I would likely use his surname. Afterwards I would continue using it unless he explicitly told me to stop. There are a number of people from high school I became acquainted with that way, and so only refer to them as [Surname].

It also matters for some people which name is easier to pronounce. Almost all of my HS friends used my very common surname because my given name is odd.

But I would say it's more like referring to your boss, Bob Prescott as Prescott, even if you became friends or he was no longer your boss.