How come when they say Ichiro Suzuki's name it's only Ichiro?

Question

Every other players name is always his last name. What gives???

Hmm, I've never knew it was a chinese tradition. So they do that with all Chinese players? I've never noticed. Hideki Matsui they say his last name, but he's from Japan.

Answer 1

He was also called only by "Ichiro" when he played in Japan. Suzuki is a common last name so he wanted to only use his first name.

Answer 2

Mikemusic's got it right.

Also, Ichiro was a HUGE superstar in Japan; he was described at least once as Japan's Joe DiMaggio. He was known only by his first name, like Elvis or Madonna. So when he came over, he brought that first-name only identity with him.

Answer 3

the reason they use his first name instead of last is because when he played for the orix blue waves in japan, their were 7 or 8 suzuki's on the team, so they all started to use their first name instead

in japan, suzuki is an amazingly common last name, like smith or brown is here in america

Answer 4

Because in some Asian cultures, last names aren't that important. They indicate clan more than identify a person. Their first names do that. I have a feeling that is what is at play with Ichiro.

Answer 5

its because Suzuki is such a common name....so to say suzuki u could be talkin about anyone....could u imagine being in a country where half of the ppl there had the same last name as you? u would want to be called by ur first name too....and since hes such a superstar he can just be called ichiro....and the ppl will absolutely know who they are talkin about

Answer 6

His name is Suzuki Ichiro in Japan but to us its Ichiro Suzuki so they do his name to his Real name

Answer 7

he prefers it that way

EDIT: it is not a tradition in China/japan/korea, practically all of the other chinese players go by their full name (which in many cases is more than one word)

Other one name players include the NBA's Nene, any Brazilian soccer player, T.O., etc.

Answer 8

Because nobody else has that name in the majors, plus he's the best pure hitter in the bigs right now, so he deserves the one name fame!!

Answer 9

I think I heard that's the tradition in Japan.

Answer 10

b/c they dont feel like saying his whole name... or he just wants to go by Ichiro.. ♥♥♥