Let's say the person is John Smith, first name John, last Smith.

Comparing the following pairs is easy. The latter is more formal than the former.

1. John-kun vs John-san
2. Smith-kun vs Smith-san
3. John-kun vs Smith-kun
4. John-san vs Smith-san
5. John-kun vs. Smith-san (Just combine (1) and (4).)

Question: What about Smith-kun vs John-san? How do these compare?

A weird analogy to describe how I think of Smith-kun vs John-san: When I was in secondary school / high school, we were taught that in cafeteria lines, secondary students should give way to primary school / grade school students and boys should give way to girls. What happens when a primary boy and a secondary girl enter the line at the same time?

Pretty easy which rule take precedence if this is 1st year primary boy vs 6th year secondary girl, but the ambiguous case is 6th year primary boy vs 1st year secondary girl.

Let's say the person is John Smith, first name John, last Smith.

Comparing the following pairs is easy. The latter is more formal than the former.

1. John-kun vs John-san
2. Smith-kun vs Smith-san
3. John-kun vs Smith-kun
4. John-san vs Smith-san
5. John-kun vs. Smith-san (Just combine (1) and (4).)

Question: What about Smith-kun vs John-san? How do these compare?

A weird analogy to describe how I think of Smith-kun vs John-san: When I was in secondary school / high school, we were taught that in cafeteria lines, secondary students should give way to primary school / grade school students and boys should give way to girls. What happens when a primary boy and a secondary girl enter the line at the same time?

Pretty easy which rule takes precedence if this is 1st year primary boy vs 6th year secondary girl, but the ambiguous case is 6th year primary boy vs 1st year secondary girl.

Let's say the person is John Smith, first name John, last Smith.

Comparing the following pairs is easy. The latter is more formal than the former.

1. John-kun vs John-san
2. Smith-kun vs Smith-san
3. John-kun vs Smith-kun
4. John-san vs Smith-san
5. John-kun vs. Smith-san (Just combine (1) and (4).)

Question: What about Smith-kun vs John-san? How do these compare?

A weird analogy to describe how I think of Smith-kun vs John-san: When I was in secondary school / high school, we were taught that in cafeteria lines, secondary students should give way to primary school / grade school students and boys should give way to girls. What happens when a primary boy and a secondary girl enter the line at the same time?

Pretty easy which rule take precedence if this is 1st year primary boy vs 6th year secondary girl, but the ambiguous case is 6th year primary boy vs 1st year secondary girl.

Let's say the person is John Smith, first name John, last Smith.

Comparing the following pairs is easy. The latter is more formal than the former.

1. John-kun vs John-san
2. Smith-kun vs Smith-san
3. John-kun vs Smith-kun
4. John-san vs Smith-san
5. John-kun vs. Smith-san (Just combine (1) and (4).)

Question: What about Smith-kun vs John-san? How do these compare?

A weird analogy to describe how I think of Smith-kun vs John-san: When I was in secondary school / high school, we were taught that in cafeteria lines, secondary students should give way to primary school / grade school students and boys should give way to girls. What happens when a primary boy and a secondary girl enter the line at the same time?

Pretty easy which rule take precedence if this is 1st year primary boy vs 6th year secondary girl, but the ambiguous case is 6th year primary boy vs 1st year secondary girl.