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Refer to people the way you think of them. If you think of him as "Alan," refer to him as Alan. If you think of your Japanese friend Goto Sumiko (where Goto is her last name) as "Goto," then use th...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8368 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/8368 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Refer to people the way you think of them. If you think of him as "Alan," refer to him as Alan. If you think of your Japanese friend Goto Sumiko (where Goto is her last name) as "Goto," then use that. Alternately, if Goto Sumiko goes by "Goto" but you always called her "Sumi Quatro" because you both love the singer Suzy Quatro, then by all means refer to her as Sumi Quatro in the text. Just be consistent and clear, and identify everyone on first reference so the reader doesn't get lost.