last-name

— In some schools or businesses, inferiority is underscored by last-naming alone. Superiors receive [title + last name], but inferiors are called by their last names alone. If novels and mystery stories are to be believed, in England servants were often last-named without titles, as were students. As late as the 1950s, in the staid New England high school I went to, boys were last-named alone, but girls were [Miss + last name]. In some schools or social circles today, mutual last-naming by peers is a sign of intimacy or affection.