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Honorifics are a feature of Japanese language that have been creeping into English dubs and which are frequently carried over intact and unannotated in subtitles. Honorifics are the Japanese equivalent of "Mister", "Mrs.", "Doctor" and the like, except that there are far more of them with far more nuances of meaning than there are in English. They are employed as suffixes to names ('-san') or in some cases (such as 'sensei') as substitutes for names.
 
Politeness is a critical part of Japanese language and culture, and honorifics are a key element in that. In general they are expressions of respect or endearment, but as with many terms in many languages, delivery -- tonedelivery—tone and emphasis -- canemphasis—can change a title of utmost honor to an insult. [[Hey, You|Using the wrong honorific,]] or the right honorific in the wrong way, can result in anything from simple disdain to (in feudal times, at least) clan warfare.
 
More and more often, they are [[Too Long; Didn't Dub|used without explanation]] in English translations.
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As noted above, ''-dono'' comes from the word ''tono'', meaning "lord". Several other terms for social rank seem to be used as honorifics as well, most notably ''-oujo'' and ''-hime'', both of which mean "princess". ''[[Ojou|"-ojou" or "-ojousama"]]'' is regularly used for girls from very well-to-do families.
 
Using no honorific at all (called ''yobisute'') is also an honorific -- ithonorific—it's a "null honorific", and it means the speaker is addressing the person to whom he is speaking in an intimate and familiar manner usually restricted to family, spouses or one's closest friends. Usually, this is only done when [[First-Name Basis]] permission is granted by the subject. Using no honorific without such permission is a grave insult; this is a subtlety lost on many foreign visitors, who offend people with no idea that they're doing so (although nowadays this is generally not the case for most foreigners since most Japanese understand that most foreigners do not use honorifics). Addressing someone in ''yobisute'' for the first time frequently marks an important point in a [[Romance Arc]] or friendship.
 
 
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** Washu (who is 20,000 years old and the galaxy's greatest scientific genius) [[Insistent Terminology|insists on being called "Washu-chan"]] ("Little Washu" in the dubbed version) by everyone (except Ryoko, who she insists should call her "Mom" instead), ''especially'' ultra-formal Ayeka. She generally refers to Tenchi as "Tenchi-dono", indicating her age.
** Ryoko, being extremely informal and not at all interested in other people's concepts of what's polite, doesn't use honorifics. Tenchi, on the other hand, uses standard honorifics for everyone ''except'' Ryoko, who he addresses by name only.
* In the English translation of ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'', Hyatt almost always refers to Excel as "Senior Excel" or just "Senior" -- a—a reasonable, if not exactly standard, usage that reflects the Japanese "Excel-[[Sempai-Kohai|sempai]]". Il Palazzo, their immediate superior, addresses Excel (as an example of its use in a context other than schoolboys) as "Excel-kun".
* During a [[Flash Back]] in one of the later episodes of ''[[Steel Angel Kurumi 2]]'', the English dub actually has a child using the ''-tan'' honorific without explanation.
* The many different honorifics used in ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi]]'' are an important part of characterization. For instance, each member of Kaoru's [[Unwanted Harem]] addresses him differently. [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Aoi]] says "Kaoru-sama"; formal [[Harem Nanny|Miyabi]] says "Kaoru-dono" (rendered in English as "Sir Kaoru"); easygoing American [[Bottle Fairy|Tina]] says "Kaoru"; younger student [[Dojikko|Taeko]] says "Hanabishi-sempai"; and rich girl [[The Ojou|Mayu]] says "Hanabishi-sama". In fact, the respectful honorifics that Aoi and Miyabi use should really be a problem for their cover story -- clearlystory—clearly Kaoru is more than just a tenant to them.
* ''Yobisute'' as a romantic turning point -- orpoint—or not: In the ''[[Death Note]]'' anime, Misa Amane horrifies Light Yagami by beginning to refer to him ''yobisute'' only moments after their mutually manipulative relationship is established. He comments, but is forced to acquiesce when she proposes a ridiculous nickname as the alternative. The English-dub rendition became, "Light, darling?" followed by an incredulous, "Did you just call me 'darling'?" He later grits his teeth and addresses her as ''Misa-chan,'' eliciting a wheeze from Ryuk.
** The English translation of the manga initially includes honorifics, but they drop off in the second half of the manga.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', within Team 7 alone, the kids use ''-sensei'' with Kakashi; this makes it into the English dub.
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* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', Manjyome always corrects anyone who doesn't give him any honorifics when saying his name with "san da" (essentially, "That's ''Mr.'' Manjyome, to you!). For some reason, every other character mistakes him as saying the Japanese pronunciation of the English "thunder", hence his now-longstanding nickname "Manjyome Thunder" (and variants).
** In the manga, however, he doesn't seem to mind Judai just calling him "Manjoume", or Sho calling in "Manjoume-kun".
* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'': Tomo calls her ''teacher'' "Yukari-chan" -- an—an informality so outrageous that the manga translates it at one point as "Yukari baby".
** Oddly enough, Chiyo uses "-chan" on Tomo despite addressing all her other classmates as "-san" (due to them being older); one possible explanation is this is due to Tomo's typical rudeness.
*** Sometimes Tomo even refers to ''herself'' as "Tomo-chan". This may either be a result of everybody else calling her "Tomo-chan" for her relative immaturity, or a demonstration of her [[Ted Baxter|self-attributed]] [[Kawaisa]].
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** [[Large Ham|Kamina]] also refers to himself repeatedly as Kamina-sama.
*** And when he first names Lagann, he uses "Lagann-sama".
** Then there's Andine's habit of addressing the protagonists with "[[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|ningen-domo]]".<ref>ningen = human</ref>. She also calls Nia [[Department of Redundancy Department|hime-sama]].
*** Nia herself addresses Lordgenome as [["Well Done, Son" Guy|otousama]].
*** "Hime" is actually more a normal word then a honorific, and so is itself able to take honorifics. It's indeed almost always used as "hime-sama".
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** Similarly, Domon referred to his brother Kyouji as "Oniisan", and reverted to calling him by name too due to hating him after his [[Face Heel Turn]]. {{spoiler|After learning the truth of his involvement from Kyoji's clone Schwarz Bruder, he refers to Kyouji again as "Niisan". And when he has to [[Mercy Kill]] both Kyouji and Schwarz, he breaks down crying and screams "NIIIISAAAAAAAAAN!"}}.
* In ''[[Gundam Wing]]'', Dorothy always refers to Relena with ''-sama''. At their first meeting Relena specifically asked her not do do this, despite the fact that it's appropriate since she's a princess. On the other hand, she doesn't mind when Noin or Quatre call her that, so it might be that she knows Dorothy (who is [[The Mole]]) is using it facetiously. The English dub renders all instances of this as "Miss Relena".
** In an earlier episode, Duo greet Relena as ''Jouou-san'', a respectful term for a young woman of high social standing;<ref>at the time, he didn't know she was royalty, just the daughter of a government official</ref>; the dub changed this to "Hey, good-lookin'!", presumably more in line with how they were trying to portray Duo.
* In ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' the twins, Ai and Makoto, refer to each other without honorifics both pre and post [[Character Development]]. It seems to be a sign of closeness for them.
* In ''[[Futari Ecchi]]'' the young [[Happily Married]] couple Makoto and Yura keep calling each other using the honorific "-san". (Oh, yes, even while having sex!) In one episode Makoto's colleagues at work laugh at this fact, considering it too old-fashioned and possibly a sign of Makoto's submissiveness towards Yura. This makes him try to behave towards Yura like a typical dominant macho Japanese husband, but comically fails at this.
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** Ringo refers to the Takakura boys by name and attaching "-kun", since they're on the same age bracket; she also calls their sister "Himari-chan", since Himari is younger than her. On the other hand, Shouma and Kanba call her "Oginome-san" (likely to be polite {{spoiler|and to keep some distance from her, like they do with almost everyone else}}) and Himari refers to her as "Ringo-chan".
* [[Captain Tsubasa]] gives rather interesting spins on the trope, depending heavily on who is talking. On one hand we have [[Nice Guy]] Tsubasa, male [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] Misaki and [[Princely Young Man]] Misugi, who are rather soft-spoken and refer to their fellow sport boys as "-kun". On the other side of the spectre there's low-class [[Self-Made Man]] Kojiro Hyuuga, who uses ''yobisute'' aka no pronouns with people his age. In the middle there's Genzo Wakabayashi, who also is a [[Princely Young Man]] but, unlike Misugi, tends to use ''yobisute'' with others.
* Hanamichi Sakuragi from [[Slam Dunk]] uses honorifics (more exactly, "-san") almost exclusively towards women -- completewomen—complete with rather polite speech pattern, indicating his [[Gentle Giant]] side. In regards to his gangster friends, Sakuragi resorts to ''yobisute'' aka referring to them without any pronouns, which exemplifies their [[True Companions]] bond. And towards all other dudes... well, he's [[The Nicknamer]], but some of these nicknames ''do'' include honorifics (male [[Yamato Nadeshiko]] Kogure is "Megane-kun" and [[Heterosexual Life Partners|heterosexual life partner]] Miyagi is "Ryou-chin", both ''very'' affectionate by Sakuragi's standards, while OTOH [[Deadpan Snarker]] ex-[[Delinquent]] Mitsui is "Micchin" specifically to piss Mitsui off.) And if Sakuragi ''absolutely'' has to use the dude's real name, he'll go for ''yobisute''.
* Satoko Houjou from [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]] frequently uses the nickname "nii-nii" (derived from O-niisan) when referring to her older brother, {{spoiler|or Keiichii in some arcs}}. This carries over to the English dub without any explanation other than it's extremely cute and endearing.
** She also uses "nee-nee" (derived from O-neesan) when referring to {{spoiler|Shion}} at least once in Kai. (It wasn't dubbed, just noteworthy)
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