I thought it was a little odd, but now I see " Dällebach Kari " (the old movie and new musical) is again in this format, as the title is the guys Last Name (Dällebach) First Name (Kari), and it made me start wondering about it again. So it's common here...?
In some meetings at work, I noticed sometimes they refer to people present by "Last Name, First Name" (eg: Smith Peter). Normally, when I refer to someone, or introduce someone, in any setting, I always say "First Name, Last Name" (ex: "This is Peter Smith"", not "This is Smith Peter"). Is this a common in Switzerland? Or maybe is it an "older" tradition here, as usually I see older people I see using this "name format".
Meeting & Greeting:
When meeting people, shake hands with all present. Swiss society is rather formal and people tend to address each other, whether colleague, neighbour or acquaintance, by their surname . This is not only a sign and respect but one of the manifestations of the Swiss propensity for privacy . However, in some of the multinationals in Switzerland this is changing and first names are a little more common.
At first always address someone first by his or her professional title and family name . Only when invited to should one use first names .
I find this very odd. I am used to hearing "Herr Smith", but if you mention the first name it always comes in the first place, at least that is what I have always heard. So "Herr/Dr. Peter Smith" would sound normal to me, but not "Herr/Dr. Smith Peter".
My husband always signs his name Last First. I think that it is just the cultural way here.
When we were married, I took his name but hyphenated it with my maiden name. In the US or UK, it would be Mine-His, but the convention in Switzerland is His-Mine. That's because the first thing you read is the name that matters the most, or at least that's how it has been explained to me.
I've noticed that most Swiss people I know introduce themselves / answer the phone with their surnames only ... and only offer first names to people they know more personally. Usually, though, if first names are offered they're offered alone or before the surname ... but then, I don't tend to move in business circles, maybe there's a difference there.
It is actually an older tradition, used primarily in more rural regions. Used to be very common in the Emmental for example, but is slowly dying out nowadays.
This tradition has nothing to do with being very formal and using "Sie", just the opposite actually. In the Emmental for example, people used "du" almost all the time. But with people having the same surname quite often and everybody knowing everybody in the small village, it was important to indicate which family the person came from: Ueli, the one from the Langenegger family, not the one form the Emmenegger family.
Particularly if the surname can also be a first name, this can lead to quite embarassing situations. We took a group of youngsters to stay overnight with German families whom they didn't know at all. One of the hosts shook hands with the lad who would be staying with his family and said 'Bernd'. So the lad, because he thought this was his first name, logically used the familiar form for 'you' - 'Du' all evening. It wasn't until the next day that he realised that this was the surname.
Well as far as I know in Switzerland you have two options when you want to leave your maiden name along with husbands surname
You can leave your maiden then husbands but without hyphen, or you can have first husbands then yours maiden, but then you have to have hyphen.
Hyphen indicates that everything is after it is maiden name.
I don't recall having a choice. If I wanted to keep my maiden name, then it was automatically His-Mine. My husband also ended up with this hyphenated name automatically.
It is quite common. Again, mostly in the Swiss German part and definitely in the lovely old fashioned canton of Bern.
It has its charm though. It has its charm.
Charm? Old fashioned and misconceived in this day IMO. I still have friends in Interlaken whose kids call me by my surname because that's how they picked up my name in conversation. Do what you want, it's never going to change.
They do this only to males ... it isn't all THAT dramatic isn't it.
I have a hyphenated surname, His-Mine. But most of the time I just introduce myself with His. It's shorter. But legally I have to use both. When official things are addressed to both of us it says "Herr and Frau His-Mine."
But he would never be called "Herr His-Mine".
It is when you're name is Heiniger, Fritz.
I wanted to take Myname-Hisname (as this is the way we would do it in my home country) but was told that if I want them in this order, it can only be Myname Hisname, no hyphen, as the previous poster said.
That's not exactly conveying the facts right. The marriage name convention doesn't put the husband's name first if the wife wanted to keep her maiden name. Unless my canton is the exception, I've always seen the names of marriage women who want to keep their premarriage last names as, e.g. Mrs. Sleeping Beauty - Charming
This is also what I have.
We do that back at home as well, even when you meet new friends of old friends, for example, you still shake hands and use your last name. I have done it here, thinking of it, never realized it might be odd...I think it has nothing to do with how close one is to people, for us it's more concept of formality = politness, good manners. The hand shake here I really like, it's the same at home, the only thing is a little strange, it is not usually expected from women. I had to make myself quit using my last name when answering phones, though, because of the telemarketers.
I'm a his mine too, even though I have been a widow for 10 years. Just couldn't be bothered to go through the hassle of seeing if i could revoke back to my maiden name. I usually just use his, apart from tax forms etc.
They have my name reversed on my credit card but they got it right on the debit card, both cards from the same bank. It gave me a fright once when I made an enquiry about a flight I was booked on to leave in an hour, and they told me I wasn't on it, they'd booked me under Mr. Firstname because of the name on the credit card.