why do japanese people add -kun or -san to names?

Answer 1

♡"San" is added to the name the same way Mr. or Mrs. would be, a title. For Example, 'ludwigg san' (- or 'ludwigg kun'(*^o^*) ～kawaii!). It also shows respect. It's usually used with the family name, example Smith san, but can also be used with the first name, Cyn san. "Sama" is also used formally- Cyn sama. ～(Usually) For children, boys, "kun" is used, 'Tosh kun' (first name) or 'Mura kun' (last name). For girls, "chan" is used 'Mari chan' or 'Mura chan'. I live in Japan and I'm not a child, but people who are older than me call me "Cyn chan" all the time, my husband does as well. My family and relatives call my 'Cyn chan' or 'Cyn san' depending on their ages. I rarely hear anyone referred to by their first or last name only here in Japan～this is known as 'yobisute'. (Other than usually family members. My hubby's younger sister calls him 'oniisan or oniichan' out of respect. He calls her by her name only because she's younger. She's younger than I am, but out of respect I still call her 'K san'. Mother and father are 'okasan and otousan'. This is our family, of course. Age is always respected in Japan.) There are many other titles in Japan as well, for professionals, teachers and so on....♡

Answer 2

they add -san to japanese names to add title of respect. It's the same as calling people here like Mr. Watkins or Ms. Sandy. In japanese it's Watkins-san or Sandy-san.

They only used -kun when they call boys for girls it's -chan

Answer 3

You already have some great answers!! It's just respect!! In normal life, you'd only add 'sama' if you were calling a patient into the doctors office, or something official like that..! San is the normal thing to say, but for children it's usually kun for boys, or chan for girls.

Incidentally, my husband and his siblings don't add anything to each other's names, they just use first names when speaking to each other - but maybe that's because they're originally from Osaka ... perhaps familial politeness differs in various parts of the country..!??!?
; )

But if Must-Zen is going to copy and paste half of wikipedia he could at least tell you his source!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_titles
(it's not like you'd believe he sat and wrote it all himself after all!)
; )

Answer 4

the -san suffix is like our way of saying Mr. or Mrs. So, If a Japanese person calls you Smith-san, (should your last name be smith, they're just saying Mr. Smith.

Answer 5

It's a form of respect like "Mr.", "Mrs." or "Miss". They have specific titles for different levels of respect. I think -kun is less formal.

Answer 6

Yeah well how come they add DES-KA to questions? It's all part of the language. How come you're asking us?

Answer 7

For the same reason that western societies add Mr., Mrs., Miss, and so on.

Answer 8

It's a title, just as we use "Mr." or "Mrs.", though not in the same sense. Their titles are much more specific and detailed.

Answer 9

DO THEY???

Answer 10

San
San (さん, San?) is the most common honorific title, used when addressing most social outsiders, for example, non-family members. San is used unless the addressee's status warrants one of the other terms mentioned below.
San is often translated as "Mr.", "Ms.", "Mrs.", and the like. San may also be used in combination with things other than the name of the person being addressed. For example, a bookseller might be addressed as honya-san "Mr. Bookseller", and a butcher as nikuya-san "Ms. Butcher".
San is also used when talking about entities such as companies. For example, the offices or shop of a company called Kojima Denki might be referred to as "Kojima Denki-san" by another nearby company. This may be seen on the small maps often used in phone books and business cards in Japan, where the names of surrounding companies are written using san.
San is also applied to some kinds of foods. For example, fish used for cooking are sometimes referred to as sakana-san. It is also sometimes applied to animals - a rabbit might be usagi-san.
Both san and its more formal equivalent, sama, imply a kind of familiarity. In formal speech, the title shi may be preferred.
Note: Han (はん, Han?) is the Kyoto and, more widely, Kansai dialect's equivalent of san.

Kun
Kun (君, Kun?) is an informal and intimate honorific primarily used towards males. It is used by persons of senior status in addressing those of junior status, by males of roughly the same age and status when addressing each other, and by anyone in addressing male children. In business settings women, particularly young women, may also be addressed as kun by older males of senior status. It is sometimes used towards male pets as well.
Schoolteachers typically address male students using kun, while female students are addressed as san or chan. The use of kun to address male children is similar to the use of san when addressing adults. In other words, not using kun would be considered rude, but, like san for members of one's own family, kun is traditionally not used when addressing one's own son (unless kun is part of a nickname: Akira-kun—Akkun) or when referring to one's own child in conversations with others.
In the Diet of Japan, diet members and ministers are called kun by the chairpersons. For example, Junichiro Koizumi is called "Koizumi Jun'ichirō-kun". The only exception is that when Takako Doi was the chairperson of the lower house, she used the san title.

Chan
Chan (ちゃん, Chan?) is the informal, intimate, diminutive equivalent of san, used to refer to female children, close friends (primarily female, but also male), and other persons with whom one is intimate. Chan may also used for adults as a title of affection. For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger gained the nickname Shuwa chan in Japanese. Similar to kun, chan is not necessarily optional when referring to the female children of others, and it is traditionally avoided when referring to one's own daughter.
Although traditionally honorifics are not applied to oneself, some young women occasionally develop the habit of referring to themselves in the third person using chan. For example, a young woman named Maki might call herself Maki-chan rather than using a first person pronoun like watashi. Chan is also used for pets' names and when referring to animals, such as usagi-chan (rabbit+chan) when speaking to small children.
In the same way that chan is a version of san, there is also chama from sama, typically used for an older person. Non-standard variations of chan include chin (ちん, chin?), and tan (たん, tan?). This last is also the popular suffix for an artistic meme on Japanese imageboards wherein a female character, usually in a kind of cosplay, is drawn to represent an inanimate object or popular consumer product. Part of the humor of this personification comes from the personality ascribed to the character (often satirical) and the sheer arbitrariness of identifying a variety of machines, objects, and even physical places as cute.
Famous examples include the OS-tan (representing computer operating systems) and Bisuke-tan (representing KFC biscuits). Some characters such as Bincho-tan are actual mascots of companies.

The Japanese media use chan too when mentioning pre-elementary school children and sometimes elementary-school girls.


Senpai and kōhai
Senpai (先輩, Senpai?) is used by students to refer to or address senior students in an academic or other learning environment, or in athletics and sports clubs, and also in business settings to refer to those in more senior positions. Kōhai (後輩, Kōhai?) is the reverse of this. It is used to refer to or address juniors, though it might be considered somewhat insulting or overly condescending in some circles to refer to someone as kōhai directly.

Sensei
Sensei (先生, Sensei?) (derived from Mandarin Chinese xiān shēng, meaning Mister) is used to refer to or address teachers, practitioners of a profession such as doctors and lawyers, politicians, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill. For example, Japanese manga fans refer to manga artists using the term sensei, as in Takahashi sensei for manga artist Rumiko Takahashi; the term is used similarly by fans of other creative professionals such as novelists, musicians, and artists. It is also a common martial arts title when referring to the instructor.
Sensei can also be using fawningly, as evinced by adherents in addressing or talking about charismatic business, political, and religious leaders (especially unordained ones). Japanese speakers will also use the term sarcastically to ridicule overblown or fawning adulation of such leaders, and the Japanese media frequently invoke it (rendered in katakana, akin to scare quotes or italics in English) to highlight the megalomania of those who allow themselves to be sycophantically addressed with the term. A further, similar use is to address or refer to someone who acts in a self-important or -aggrandizing manner.


Sama
Sama (様, Sama?) is the formal version of san. This honorific is used primarily in addressing persons much higher in rank than oneself and in commercial and business settings to address and refer to customers. It also appears in words used to address or speak of persons or objects for which the speaker wishes to show respect or deference, such as okyaku-sama (customer) or Tateishi-sama (a stone revered as a deity). People will also affix sama to the names of personages who have a special talent and are considered particularly attractive, though this usage can also be tongue-in-cheek, exaggerated, or even ironic. Examples include "Tanaka-sama" to refer to a young man named Tanaka who is considered rather handsome by his admirers and the "Leo-Sama" (or "Reo-sama") that has become the media's pet name for Leonardo DiCaprio. Further, sama can be used to express arrogance (or self-effacing irony), such as in the arrogant male pronoun ore-sama ("my esteemed self") for "I".
Sama also follows the addressee's name on postal packages and letters and is frequently seen in business e-mails.
It is worth noting that the sama appearing in such set phrases as o-machidō sama ("sorry to keep you waiting"), o-tsukare sama (an expression of empathy for people who have been working long and hard), and go-kuro sama (an expression recognizing someone's labors), though written with the same kanji, is etymologically and semantically distinct from the sama used as term of address.
Referring to oneself with -sama is considered to be highly egotistical.


Shi
Shi (氏, Shi?) is used in formal writing, and sometimes in very formal speech, for referring to a person who is unfamiliar to the speaker, typically a person known through publications whom the speaker has never met. For example, the shi title is common in the speech of newsreaders. It is preferred in legal documents, academic journals, and certain other formal written styles because of the familiarity which "san" or "sama" imply. Once a person's name has been used with shi, the person can be referred to with shi alone, without the name, as long as there is only one person being referred to.


Other titles
Occupation-related titles
Instead of the above general honorifics, it is fairly common to use the name of the person's job after the name. It is common for sports athletes to be referred to as XXX-senshu (選手, senshu?) rather than XXX-san. Japanese footballer Robert Cullen is referred to as Karen-senshu. A master carpenter might have the title tōryō (棟梁, tōryō?), meaning "master carpenter", attached to his name, and be referred to as "Suzuki-Tōryō" rather than "Suzuki-San". Television lawyer Kazuya Maruyama is referred to by television presenters and in promotional literature as Maruyama bengoshi (丸山弁護士, Maruyama bengoshi?) (literally "Maruyama-lawyer"), but would be called Maruyama-sensei by a private client. A minority of educated Japanese now prefer to address their attorneys as XXX-bengoshi because the traditional appellation XXX-sensei is felt to be unduly deferential.
Inside companies, it is also common to refer to people using their company rank, particularly for those of a high rank, such as company president, shachō (社長, shachō?) or other titles such as buchō (部長, buchō?), department chief, etc.
Honorific job titles
The name of a job may have two versions. For example, "translator" may be hon'yakuka (翻訳家, hon'yakuka?) or hon'yakusha (翻訳者, hon'yakusha?). Job titles ending in ka (家, ka?), literally "house", usually imply some kind of expertise, thus, by the rules of modesty in Japanese, they are not usually used for oneself. The plain form with sha (者, sha?), literally "person", may be used by the person or in plain text, such as the book title. Use of the ka ending implies respect. Similarly, there are jūdōka (柔道家, jūdōka?), or "judo experts" in judo, and manga authors are referred to as mangaka (漫画家, mangaka?) or "manga experts".
In the case of farmers, the old name hyakushō (百姓, hyakushō?) (literally "one hundred surnames") is now considered offensive (see kotobagari), and farmers are referred to, and refer to themselves as, nōka (農家, nōka?), or "farming experts".
Honorific job titles such as sensei, which is applied to teachers, doctors and lawyers, also have plain forms. For example, in plain language, a teacher is a kyōshi (教師, kyōshi?), a doctor is an isha (医者, isha?) or ishi (医師, ishi?) and a lawyer is bengoshi (弁護士, bengoshi?). The polite versions are used when addressing or talking about the person, but the plain forms are used when referring to their profession.
Titles for criminals and the accused
Convicted criminals were once referred to without any title, though today with the title hikoku (被告, hikoku?) for political correctness. For example, Matsumoto-hikoku of Aum Shinrikyo. Suspects awaiting trial are referred to by the title yōgisha (容疑者, yōgisha?) for the same reason.
These title were made for political correctness, however, they have become derogatory during time. When Goro Inagaki was arrested for a traffic accident in 2001, some media referred him with the new-made title menbaa (メンバー, menbaa?), originating from the English word member, for "special solicitude". This title was criticized as an unnatural term and became derogatory almost instantly.
The title jukeisha (受刑者) indicates a criminal serving a sentence.

Titles for companies
As mentioned above, companies often refer to each other's offices informally using the company name plus san. In correspondence, the title onchū (御中) is added to the company name when the letter is not addressed to a specific person in the company. Furthermore, it is considered highly important to mention the status of the company, either incorporated, kabushikigaisha (株式会社, kabushikigaisha?), often abbreviated with the kanji kabu (株, kabu?) in brackets, or limited, yūgen gaisha (有限会社, yūgen gaisha?), often abbreviated with the kanji yū (有, yū?) in brackets either before or after the company's name.
There are also separate words for "our company", heisha (弊社, heisha?), which literally means "clumsy/poor company", and "your company", kisha (貴社, kisha?), in writing, or onsha (御社, onsha?), in speech, which both literally mean "honoured company". Heisha or onsha can also be replaced with the more neutral tōsha (当社, tōsha?), literally "this company", or jisha (自社, jisha?).
For organizations that provide professional services, such as law or accounting firms, sha may be substituted by jimusho (事務所, meaning "office") in the above constructs.
See also Japanese etiquette.


Dono/tono
Dono and tono (both written 殿) roughly mean "lord". This title is no longer used in daily conversation, though it is still used in some types of written business correspondance. It is also seen on drug prescriptions, certificates and awards, and in written correspondence in tea ceremonies.
Note: Fans of anime and manga may notice that the use of this honorific is not uncommon. It often comes up in two forms.
1. submissive -- Using its "lord" or "master" roots, this form of dono is often considered to show slightly less respect than sama, but more than san. In the anime Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, the character Mihoshi is addressed by her computer unit as "Mihoshi-dono."
2. equal -- This form of dono is used by a powerful/important person to address another powerful/important person with a great deal of respect without elevating the addressee above the addresser. In the anime Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, the characters of Seto-sama and Washu address the main character Tenchi as "Tenchi-dono" out of respect for his great abilities.


Ue
Ue (上) literally means "above" and, appropriately, denotes a high level of respect. While its use is no longer very common, it is still seen in constructions like 父上 (chichi-ue) and 母上 (haha-ue), reverent terms for one's own, or someone else's, father and mother, respectively.

Iemoto
Iemoto (家元, Iemoto?) is an even more polite version of sensei used for the highest ranking person heading a school or group in traditional art forms such as calligraphy, flower arrangement or tea ceremony.

Sessha
Sessha (拙者) is not a title, but a humble first-person personal pronoun previously used by male members of the samurai class. It is rarely heard today except in period drama or when someone is attempting to be ironic or sound amusing. It literally means "oafish one." Sessha finds use in the popular anime Rurouni Kenshin.

Royal titles
* Heika (陛下, Heika?) is affixed to the end of a royal title, with a meaning similar to "Majesty". For example, Tennō heika (天皇陛下, Tennō heika?) means "His Majesty, the Emperor" and Joō heika (女王陛下, Joō heika?) means "Her Majesty, the Queen" (e.g. of Denmark). Heika by itself can also be used as a direct term of address, similar to "Your Majesty".
* Denka (殿下, Denka?) is affixed to the end of a royal title, with a meaning similar to "Royal Highness" or "Majesty". For example Swēden Ōkoku Bikutoria Kōtaishi denka (スウェーデン王国　ビクトリア皇太子殿下, Swēden Ōkoku Bikutoria Kōtaishi denka?) "Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of the Kingdom of Sweden".
* Kakka (閣下, Kakka?) means "Your Excellency" and is used for ambassadors and heads of state.