Look up surname in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name". In some Western world countries, it is commonly called "last name". In all Western countries in North and South America as well as Europe, a surname is placed at the end of a person's given name. In Spain and most Spanish-speaking countries, two last names or surnames are used. One notable exception on the order is in Hungary, where, just like in China, Korea (성씨), Japan and in many other East Asian countries, the family name is placed before a person's given name.

The western style of having both a family name (surname) and a given name (Christian name or forename) is far from universal. In many countries it is common for ordinary people to have only one name or mononym.

Order of words[link]

In some cultures, including those of most Western countries, the surname or family name ("last name") is placed after the personal or given name ("first name"). In other cultures the surname is placed first, followed by the given name or names; this is the case in Hungary, parts of Romania, South India, Sri Lanka^[1] and countries in the Chinese cultural sphere including Japan, Korea, Vietnam and China.

In Japan and Hong Kong (China), when people of Japanese or Hong Kong Chinese origin, respectively, write their personal name in the Latin alphabet, it is common to reverse the order of the given and family names for the convenience of Westerners, so that they know which name is the family name for official/formal purposes. Hungarians do the same when interacting with other Europeans. Reversing the order of names is also customary for the Baltic Fennic peoples and the Hungarians, but other Uralic peoples didn't need surnames, because of the clanic structure of their societies. Surnames have been imposed by the dominant authorities: evangelists, then administrations. Thus, the Samis saw no change or a transformation of their name, for example: some Sire became Siri,^[2] Hætta Jáhkoš Ásslat became Aslak Jacobsen Hætta — as it was the norm until recently, when integration into the EU and accelerated international exchanges pushed many people to reverse the order of their full name to given name - surname, so that they are not called Ms. Rauha (a first name), just like Japanese, some Koreans, Chinese or some Vietnamese do, for the same reason.

In France and Italy, administrative usage is to put the surname before the first on official documents.

In India surname often denotes your caste, profession, village etc. and is invariably mentioned along with the personal names. However, hereditary last names are not universal. In Indian Passports surname is mentioned first. In telephone directories surname is taken for sorting the entries in alphabetical order. In North Indian States surname is placed after given names where it exists. In south India, where use of two names is by no means universal, surname is placed before personal name and in most cases it is kept as only initial (for example 'S.' for Suryapeth etc.).

Spanish-speaking countries[link]

In Spain and most Spanish-speaking countries, two last names or surnames are used, both customary and legally: a first surname for the father's family, and a second surname for the mother's.^[3] Besides a given name, people may or may not have middle or supplementary names. Women do not lose their surnames when married. A formal way to refer to a person would be to refer to her/him using the first last name or both. So, Diego Antonio Huyke Villeneuve would be called 'Huyke' or 'Huyke Villeneuve', but not 'Villeneuve'.

In Spain, since 1999, and in Chile since 2008, equal gender rights are recognized by letting parents decide on the order of their children´s first and second surnames. Once the order is decided for the first child, siblings of the same biological parents must maintain same order.^[4][5] Having same-sex marriage achieved legal status in Spain, surname regulations apply equally to their children in this nation.^[6]

Argentina has been an exception on the use of two surnames, since traditionally only the father’s has been used. A bill recently approved establishes the optional use of both surnames seeking to homologate^{[clarification needed]} Argentina to the rest of Spanish-speaking countries.^[7]

In an English-speaking environment, Spanish-named people sometimes hyphenate their surnames to avoid confusion or to fill-out forms with only one space provided for last name. A practical option to spare an explanation is to use a single surname composed of two separate words.

For more information see: Spanish naming customs

Formation[link]

Name etymologists classify European surnames under five categories, depending on their origin: given name, occupational name, location name, nickname, and ornamental name.^[8][9] This classification can be extended to surnames originating elsewhere.

Given name[link]

These may be a simple first name such as "Wilhelm", a patronymic such as "Andersen", a matronymic such as "Beaton", or a clan name such as "O'Brien". Multiple surnames may be derived from a single given name: e.g. there are thought to be over 90 Italian surnames based on the given name "Giovanni".^[10]

Occupational name[link]

Occupational names include such simple examples as "Eisenhauer" (iron worker, later Anglicized in America as "Eisenhower") or "Schneider" (tailor) as well as more complicated names based on occupational titles. In England it was common for servants to take a modified version of their employer's occupation or first name as their last name, adding the letter "s" to the word, although this formation could also be a patronymic. For instance, the surname "Vickers" is thought to have arisen as an occupational name adopted by the servant of a vicar,^[11] while "Roberts" could have been adopted by either the son or the servant of a man named Robert. A subset of occupational names in English are names thought to be derived from the medieval mystery plays. The participants would often play the same roles for life, passing the part down to their oldest sons. Names derived from this may include "King", "Lord", "Virgin", and "Death";^[8] the last is often wrongly thought to be an Anglicization of the French name "D'Ath".^[9] It is now thought that the surname "D'Ath" arose well after the surname "Death" was first used.^[9]

Location name[link]

Location names, or habitation names, may be as generic as "Gorski" (Polish for "hill") or "Pitt" (English for "pit"), but may also refer to specific locations. "Washington", for instance, is thought to mean "the homestead of the family of Wassa",^[9] while "Lucci" likely means "resident of Lucca".^[10] Although some surnames (such as "London" or "Bialystok") are derived from large cities, more people reflect the names of smaller communities, as in Ó Creachmhaoil, derived from a village in County Galway. This is thought to be due to the tendency in Europe during the Middle Ages for migration to chiefly be from smaller communities to the cities, and the need for new arrivals to choose a defining surname.^[8][9]

Many Japanese surnames derive from geographical features; for example, Ishikawa (石川) means "stone river", Yamamoto (山本) means "the base of the mountain", and Inoue (井上) means "above the well".

Arabic names also contain surnames that denote the city of origin, for example, in cases of Saddam Hussein al Tikriti,^[12] meaning Saddam Hussein of Tikrit, a city in Iraq. This component of the name is called a nisbah.

Nicknames[link]

These include names, also known as eke-names,^[13] based on appearance such as "Schwartzkopf", "Short", and probably "Caesar",^[10] and names based on temperament and personality such as "Daft", "Gutman", and "Maiden", which according to a number of sources was an English nickname meaning "effeminate".^[9][10] When Jewish families in Central Europe were forced to adopt surnames in the 18th and 19th century, those who failed to choose a surname were often given pejorative or even cruel nicknames (such as "Schweinmann" ("pig man") or "Schmutz" (a variant of "filthy")) by the local registrar.^[8] Many families later changed these names.

Ornamental name[link]

Ornamental names as surnames are more common in communities which adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries,^[8] and are common among Jewish families and in Scandinavia.^[10] Examples include "Morgenstern" ("morning star"), "Safire" ("sapphire"), and "Reis" ("branch"). In some cases, such as Chinese Indonesians and Chinese Thais, certain ethnic groups are subject to political pressure to change their surnames, in which case surnames can lose their family-name meaning. For instance, Indonesian business tycoon Liem Swie Liong (林绍良) "indonesianised" his name to Sudono Salim. In this case "Liem" (林) was rendered by "Salim", a name of Arabic origin, while "Sudono", a Javanese name with the honorific prefix "su-" of Sanskrit origin, was supposed to be a rendering of "Swie Liong

Gender-specific versions of surname[link]

Cultures like Greek and Russian tend to have surnames that change form depending on the gender of the person. For example in Greece, if a man called Papadopoulos has a daughter, she will likely be named Papadopoulou (if the couple have decided their offspring will take the father's surname), since that name has a female version. In Poland, if the husband is named Podwinski, and his wife takes his surname, her last name, and those of their unmarried daughters, would be Podwinska. The sons would be known as Podwinski. Much more interesting situation is in Lithuania. If the husband is named Vilkas, his wife will be named Vilkienė and his daughter will be named Vilkaitė.

Other[link]

The meanings of some names are unknown or unclear. The most common European name in this category may be the Irish name "Ryan", which has no known meaning.^[9][11] Other surnames may have arisen from more than one source: the name "De Luca", for instance, likely arose either in or near Lucania or in the family of someone named Lucas or Lucius;^[10] in some instances, however, the name may have arisen from Lucca, with the spelling and pronunciation changing over time and with emigration.^[10] The same name may appear in different cultures by coincidence or romanization; the surname Lee is used in English culture, but is also a romanization of the Chinese surname Li.^[11] Surname origins have been the subject of much folk etymology.

Surnames were uncommon prior to the 12th century, and still somewhat rare into the 13th; most European surnames were originally occupational or locational, and served to distinguish one person from another if they happened to live near one another (e.g., two different people named John could conceivably be identified as 'John Butcher' and 'John Chandler'). This still happens, in some communities where a surname is particularly common, for example on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, many residents have the family name MacLeod (son of Lewis) and so may still be known by a surname symbolising their occupation such as 'Kevin the post' and 'Kevin Handbag'^{[citation needed]}

In French Canada until the 19th century, several families adopted surnames that followed the family name in order to distinguish the various branches of a large family. Such a surname was preceded by the word "dit" ("said") and was known as a "nom-dit" ("said-name"). (Compare with some Roman naming conventions.) While this tradition is no longer in use, in many cases the nom-dit has come to replace the original family name. Thus the Bourbeau family has split into Bourbeau dit Verville, Bourbeau dit Lacourse, and Bourbeau dit Beauchesne. In many cases Verville, Lacourse, or Beauchesne has become the new family name. Likewise, the Rivard family has split into the Rivard dit Lavigne, Rivard dit Loranger and Rivard dit Lanoie. The origin of the nom-dit can vary. Often it denoted a geographical trait of the area where that branch of the family lived: Verville lived towards the city, Beauchesne lived near an oak tree, Larivière near a river, etc. Some of the oldest noms-dits are derived from the war name of a settler who served in the army or militia: Tranchemontagne ("mountain slasher"), Jolicœur ("braveheart"). Others denote a personal trait: Lacourse might have been a fast runner, Legrand was probably tall, etc.

Surname formed from a parent's name[link]

A simple family tree showing the Icelandic patronymic naming system.

The Icelandic system, formerly used in much of Scandinavia, does not use family names. A person's surname indicates the first name of the person's father (patronymic) or in some cases mother (matronymic). Most family names in other Scandinavian countries are a result of this naming practice, such as Hansen (son of Hans), Johansen (son of Johan) and Olsen (Son of Ole/Ola) the three most common surnames in Norway.^[14]

Patronymic name conventions are similar in some other nations, including Malaysia (see Malaysian name) and other Muslim countries, among most people of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala (unlike another Indian state Andhra Pradesh, where ancestral origin village names have become surnames for the people), in Mongolia and in the Scottish Gaelic personal naming system. In Russia and Bulgaria, both a patronym and a family name are obligatory parts of one's full name: e.g., if a Russian is called Ivan Andreyevich Sergeyev, that means that his father's name is Andrey and his family name is Sergeyev. A similar system is used in Greece. However, unlike the Icelandic case, only the family name is generally identified as a surname proper.

In Ethiopia and Eritrea, a child adopts the given name of one of their parents, usually the father, as a pseudo-surname. For example, Abraham Mesfin's father's name would have been Mesfin, while a child would be called "Nestanet Abraham". Referring to Abraham Mesfin as "Mr. Mesfin" would be erroneous: The correct term would be "Mr. Abraham". Very rarely do children adopt their mother's given name, whom in any case would retain their "pseudo-surname".

Culture and prevalence[link]

In the United States, 1,712 surnames cover 50 percent of the population, and about 1 percent of the population has the surname Smith,^[15] which is also the most common English name and an occupational name ("metal worker"), a contraction of blacksmith or ironsmith. Several American surnames are a result of corruptions or phonetic misappropriations of European surnames as a result of the registration process at the Immigration entry points.

Approximately 70 percent of Canadians have surnames that are of English, Irish, French, or Scottish derivation.

Some estimates say that 85 percent of China's population shares 100 surnames. In China the names Wang, Zhang and Li are the most common.^[16]

See also[link]

• Family name
• Family name (surname) in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union and CIS countries
• List of most common surnames
• Matriname
• One-name study
• Chinese surnames
• Scandinavian family name etymology
• Surname law
• Surname Extinction

References[link]

17. Hugh Wilkinson's Website that includes "Some Common English Surnames, Especially those Derived from Personal Names"

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Chandler Muriel Bing^[1] is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends, portrayed by Matthew Perry.

Background[link]

Chandler Muriel Bing was born on April 8, 1968, to an erotic novelist mother and a cross-dressing Las Vegas star and is of Scottish and Swedish ancestry. Chandler's parents announced their divorce to him over Thanksgiving dinner when he was nine years old, an event which causes him to refuse to celebrate the holiday in his adulthood. Chandler was Ross Geller's roommate in college. Chandler met Ross's sister, Monica Geller, and her friend, Rachel Green, while celebrating Thanksgiving with the Geller family during his first year at college. On a tip from Monica, Chandler later moved to Apartment #19 in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, across the hall from Monica and her roommate Phoebe Buffay.

Relationships[link]

Monica Geller[link]

At Ross and Emily's wedding in London, Monica and Chandler slept together and began dating. Monica and Chandler try keeping their relationship secret, not sure how the others will react but eventually they all find out.

Joey discovers minor details about their subsequent lies after their first weekend away together, Rachel overhears a phone conversation, Phoebe and Ross see them together from Ross's new apartment across the street. Joey kept the secret at first, after Rachel and Phoebe found out about it, the two girls tried provoking them to admit that they were in a relationship. Correspondingly, Monica and Chandler try getting them to admit that they knew and a battle broke out (with Joey as the go-between). This ended with Phoebe and Chandler supposedly intending to sleep together, but Chandler cracked and admitted his love for Monica, which she returned. The two move in together at the beginning of Season 6, Chandler proposes by the end of the season, and they get married at the end of Season 7. Their wedding is officiated by Joey, who is ordained over the Internet. In the final episode, Monica and Chandler (who are unable to conceive) watch as their adopted twins, Erica and Jack, are born.

Chandler also has problems with Monica's ex-boyfriend, Richard (portrayed by Tom Selleck), whom he and Joey had briefly idolized before Chandler and Monica started dating. The biggest problem with Richard occurs when Chandler wants to propose to Monica, and Richard confesses his love for her. Richard eventually lets Chandler marry her, realizing he missed his chance.

Monica also sometimes gets on Chandler's nerves because of her bossiness, neatness and overly competitive nature. This forces Chandler into several situations, such as Monica being unable to throw a game of tennis against Chandler's boss and Chandler's having to hide the fact that he is incredibly good at ping-pong to stop Monica entering them in doubles-tournaments. In the alternate reality episode of "The One that Could Have Been", Monica is still fat and Chandler does not show much interest in her. However, when Monica's current boyfriend gets called away during dinner, they sleep together and Chandler falls in love with her, so the two end up together anyway.

Jack and Erica Bing[link]

Twins Jack and Erica appear in the final episode, on May 6, 2004, when biological mother Erica (Anna Faris) gives birth. Everyone, except the doctor, is shocked as Erica has not realized she was expecting twins. Erica said, that at an antenatal appointment, the doctor had said "both heartbeats sound strong" and assumed he meant hers and the baby's. Chandler and Monica are a little shocked and discuss having the other baby adopted by someone else but adopt both when Monica says that they could not split them up. Jack is named after Monica's father and Erica after her biological mother. They are shown in Apartment 20, with the rest of the group before leaving for their new home.

Ross Geller[link]

Ross and Chandler have been best friends since college where they were roommates. They made pacts of girls they shouldn't sleep with, were in a band together, and Chandler went to Ross's house for Thanksgiving. Ross and Chandler frequently go out to play racquet ball and basketball. They also get bullied together and stand up to the bullies, who steal Chandler's hat. In "The One with the Football", Ross picks Chandler as his first player, despite Rachel being his girlfriend at the time. Ross sometimes describes Chandler as his best friend and Chandler vice versa. Chandler was the first person to know about Ross's secret love for Rachel.

Joey Tribbiani[link]

Until Chandler moves in with Monica, he shares an apartment with his joint best friend Joey Tribbiani. Chandler and Joey's apartment is an important focal point for the series as one of the few meeting areas of the gang. The two form a close and enduring friendship, and get into many humorous situations. Their adventures include: losing Ross's infant son (Ben) on a bus; Chandler's dismay at Joey building an "entertainment unit" which is so big, it partially covers their bedroom doors; buying a chick and a duck (affectionately named "The Chick and The Duck"); and replacing their dining table with a foosball table. A famous running gag suggests they are like an old married couple when they argue, with Chandler usually assuming the wife's role. Although in one episode when Joey's new roommate, Janine, has redecorated - Joey takes the more woman-like role of their argument with comments such as "Why would you say that? It's just mean!" and "It's not what you said; it was the way you said it", due to Janine's feminine qualities rubbing off on Joey.

The two start off on the wrong foot when Chandler is looking for a roommate when Joey said that he "was cool with the gay thing" (Joey assuming Chandler was gay). Joey comes to fill the slot, only Chandler had already chosen a roommate – a fashion photographer with a porn-star sister. But after Mr Heckles (the grumpy old man in the apartment below Monica and Rachel) tells the photographer that he is Chandler's new roommate, the photographer leaves disappointed. This forces Chandler to give the keys to Joey and they find out they had a lot in common, including sports and beer. Joey also introduces Chandler to watching the women of Baywatch (especially Yasmine Bleeth and Nicole Eggert).

Chandler often supports Joey throughout the show, paying the rent, paying for Joey's headshots, and buying most of the food. Joey tries to repay Chandler by giving him the only ticket to the première of his new movie. Unfortunately, Chandler falls asleep. Later that episode, Joey insists on paying back every penny that he owes Chandler until he realises exactly how much he owes him. He then dismisses it saying "So what, you fell asleep during my première." However, in the alternate reality of "The One that Could Have Been" these roles are reversed as Chandler struggles with finances while Joey rakes in the money. At one point in this episode, Joey helps out Chandler by allowing Chandler to be his assistant.

Janice Litman Goralnick (née Hosenstein)[link]

Before his relationship with Monica, Chandler has an on-and-off relationship with Janice Hosenstein (Maggie Wheeler). She is a regular feature in his life, even though he regretted dating her and kept ending their relationship in season 1. In season 2, Chandler spends a lot of time, chatting to a woman online who reveals that her husband is having an affair. When they agree to meet, it is revealed that the woman is Janice. They passionately kiss and their relationship continues into Season 3. Joey admits to hating Janice but decides to try to get along with her since Chandler really falls for her this time. Unfortunately Joey sees her kissing her ex-husband/father of her baby and tells Chandler, who confronts Janice. She admits that she doesn't know what to do so Chandler ends things, feeling that she should give her marriage another chance as they had a child. They reunite later in the series and Chandler wants to end things again and unsure how to do it, tells her that he is moving to Yemen. Janice tells Chandler she wants to see him off at the airport so he actually has to go to Yemen.

However, Janice makes further appearances in the sitcom. She briefly dates Ross and invites herself to Chandler's and Monica's wedding. In order to prevent this, Chandler claims he still loves her and they should pick up where they left off. Janice, not wanting to ruin Chandler and Monica's marriage, decides to leave but asks him to call her when his marriage breaks up. He uses the same excuse in Season 10 when purchasing a house and realizing that Janice was attempting to buy the house next door. In season 8, when Rachel is giving birth to Ross's baby, Janice is wheeled in to her room to give birth to her own baby.

Career[link]

Chandler works as an IT procurement manager with the specialization "Statistical analysis and data reconfiguration," a job which he thoroughly loathes. It remains a running joke through most of the seasons that no one is exactly sure of what he does. His friends, in a trivia game, could not guess his job in one instance, with Rachel calling him a "transponster". The other friends admit that they have no idea what he really does for a living. Monica admits repeatedly that she doesn't pay attention when he talks about his work, but finally learns when he quits in Season 9, although he mentions his job title in "The One with the Cooking Class," a job which inspired Chandler's oft-referenced office slang word "WENUS" (Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics), as well as the "ANUS" (Annual Net Usage Statistics). Because of this job, Chandler, with Ross, is the most financially well-off. He reveals in one episode to have a considerably large (the exact number is unknown) sum of money which he has saved for six years. He is also shown to hold a position of authority in his company. However, Chandler was unable to simply quit his job as it was his nature to avoid ending anything forcefully, be it his job, a relationship, or even his membership with a gym.

Chandler tried quitting in Season 1, but was lured back by a huge raise on top of the yearly bonus structure. During one meeting, Chandler falls asleep and on waking, realizes that his boss has chosen him to head the new division in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On Christmas Day, Chandler quits his job so that he can fly home to New York to be with Monica. Monica helps Chandler secure a job in advertising through an old college friend of hers. Much to Chandler's dismay, the job is as an intern, which leaves him in the awkward position of working alongside people who are significantly younger than him. However, his more mature approach eventually pays off for him compared to the other interns, and he secures a full-time job in the business as a junior copywriter when he only expected to receive an assistant position. The company concluded that he would be better suited for a more senior role.

In an alternate reality storyline during the show ("The One that Could Have Been"), Chandler did quit his job and works as a freelance writer, specializing in comics.

Humour[link]

Chandler is noted for his wise-cracks and sardonic attitude, which provides a defence mechanism. His most famous phrase is the rhetorical question "Could I be any more...?" and is used on the show as a source of humour repeatedly, primarily mocking from the other friends.

Some of Chandler's humour includes him describing Rachel's attempts to stop him smoking by throwing away every cigarette he puts into his mouth as "the least fun game ever", quoting A.A. Milne as having said "Get out of my chair, dillhole!" in an attempt to persuade Joey to vacate the chair he had been sitting in, and his insistence that his surname (Bing) is Gaelic for "thy turkey's done". His humorous conversations with Phoebe ranged from why Donald Duck wears a towel when getting out of the shower, to why there isn't a superhero called "Goldman" (inspired by Spider-Man). When he and Ross are trying to pick up women, he would be referred to as 'The Funny One'.

Throughout the show, Chandler claims he started using humour as a defence mechanism when his parents broke up which causes Monica to remark "So if your parents hadn't got divorced, you'd be able to answer a question like a normal person?" referring to his constant joke making. He also tends to make jokes when he is nervous. In fact, when Phoebe dates a psychologist named Roger, he states that Chandler's behaviour is textbook of someone whose parents split up while he was still a young child. At one point, the friends challenge him to not make fun of them for an entire week as his New Year's Resolution; this proves difficult when, among other things, Ross starts dating a woman named Elizabeth Hornswoggle. He breaks his resolution by sarcastically saying, "And, Ross, Hornswoggle? What, are you dating a character from Fraggle Rock?"

When Chandler is going for a job interview which he is nervous about, he is told by Phoebe that he does not make a good first impression as he makes too many jokes. He asks for her help in preparation for the interview, and Phoebe tests him by saying, "Instead of talking about what you don't do, let's talk about what you do do." When Chandler avoids joking about it, Phoebe responds by saying "Nice side step on the doo doo thing" and Chandler replies, "Hardest thing I've ever done in my life." Later, at the actual interview, the boss mentions "duties" (which, with his accent sounds like "doodies") and makes several innocuous references to excretion, which Chandler nervously sidesteps. After the interview, he explains to the boss that it "was hard to sidestep that doo doo thing" much to the boss's confusion. Chandler explains to him that "duties" are "poo" which offends the boss, thus ruining the first impression.

Gay innuendo[link]

Chandler often finds himself in difficult situations or making statements that make him sound gay in accordance with a common stereotype of popular culture that gay men are behaviourally and emotionally 'effeminate'. His friends and colleagues describe him as having a certain "quality" that make people think he could be gay. He also often has long "gay" hugs with Joey. At one point, he enters a room full of the friends and declared, "Well, don't we look nice all dressed up? ... It's stuff like that, isn't it?". In the Season 4 episode "The One Where Chandler Crosses the Line", Chandler invites Kathy to sit in the canoe with him, and asks her whether she would rather sit in the bow or the stern of the boat. Kathy replies saying she does not have a preference and asks Chandler which he prefers, to which he replies, "I like it in the stern... (long pause) ...of the boat!". In another episode, when Phoebe is wondering whether to propose to Mike, Chandler says, "If I were a guy... did I just say 'if I were a guy?'" The show's creators were actually considering making him gay at the beginning of the series, but ultimately decided not to. The creators had Chandler reveal that he is, in fact, straight in the eighth episode of the first season, in "The One Where Nana Dies Twice", when a colleague of his offers to arrange a date with a man for him, thinking he is homosexual. He tells his friends about this, but he soon realizes that they also thought he was gay when they initially met him. However, when telling a gay colleague of his that he is not gay, the colleague replies, "I know," and tells him that all gays have some kind of "radar".

After Chandler plays a prank on Ross by posting on their college website that Ross had sex with dinosaurs, Ross creates a page for Chandler and puts on it that Chandler is "as gay as the day is long" with digitally edited images of Chandler and a policeman. Many of the alumni congratulate Chandler on revealing this fact. As a retort, Chandler posts on Ross's page that he has died. Another instance which insinuates Chandler's homosexuality is when Ross exposed Chandler's kiss with a man to Monica. Ross states "Now, Chandler isn't the type of guy who goes to bars and makes out with girls," which causes Monica to scream, "You kissed a guy?!" to which Chandler replies, "In my defense, it was very dark, and he was a very pretty guy!"

Much of Chandler's sexual ambiguity stems from his childhood, as do other personality traits such as smoking and resorting to humor. The oldest is his middle name, Muriel, revealed in "The One with Rachel's Date". On Thanksgiving when Chandler was nine, his father announced that he was gay and that he intended to divorce his wife, because he would "rather sleep with the house-boy than [her]." The house-boy says, "More turkey, Mr Chandler?" in a very feminine voice just after this announcement. Charles Bing later moved to Las Vegas where he opened up an all-male burlesque called 'Viva Las Gaygas', featuring such musical numbers as "It's Raining Men", where he became a drag queen named Helena Handbasket (played by Kathleen Turner). While seeing the show in Las Vegas, Chandler tells Monica that when he was growing up, he "played the one on the far left," referring to the line of men on the stage. As a result, Chandler hates Thanksgiving and refuses to eat traditional Thanksgiving food. Chandler also highlights this as the point where he began to use humor as a defense mechanism and started smoking (despite his young age).

Further amusement emerges when listening to a self-help hypnosis tape designed to prevent him from smoking. Unfortunately the tape was designed for females and Chandler comes under the suggestion of being a 'strong confident woman'. This manifests itself in Chandler applying ChapStick like a woman applying lipstick and blotting with a tissue, and emerging from the shower with a towel around his chest and a turban on his head. He also tells Rachel that she is wearing a "stunning blouse". Eventually Joey overhears the tape and tampers with it, recording a message within it suggesting that Chandler should make him "...a cheese sandwich every day..." and buy him "...hundreds of dollars' worth of pants".

Another instance of Chandler seeming gay is in an episode in the ninth season. Joey (who is unable to stand the pain of eyebrow waxing) asks Chandler to help fix his eyebrows having only been able to withstand the pain of one eyebrow waxing. Chandler decides to help Joey, but only if he doesn't tell anyone that he is an expert at fixing eyebrows, having fixed his Dad's and his Dad's friends eyebrows instead of doing regular chores. When Chandler is done, Joey says that he is extremely good at fixing eyebrows and that they should "do something manly" to make up for the girly hour they just spent. After an awkward silence, Joey asks Chandler to curl his eyelashes and Chandler excitedly says "Yeah!".

The quantity of Chandler's quips and jokes decreases significantly as the series progresses. In fact, during the later seasons, he's actually shown to be the straightman of the group in many instances.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Character biography at the Internet Movie Database

Friends portal

Andrew Marr
At the 2009 BAFTA awards
Born	Andrew William Stevenson Marr (1959-07-31) 31 July 1959 (age 52) Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Education	Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Occupation	Journalist, presenter, political commentator
Notable credit(s)	BBC News The Andrew Marr Show
Salary	£580,000[1]
Spouse	Jackie Ashley (m. 1987-present)
Children	Son and 2 daughters

Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005. He began hosting a political programme Sunday AM, now called The Andrew Marr Show, on Sunday mornings on BBC One from September 2005. Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week.

In 2007 he presented a political history of post-war Britain on BBC Two, Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain, followed by a prequel in 2009 - Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain focusing on the period between 1901 and 1945. In 2010 he presented a series, Andrew Marr's Megacities, examining the life, development and challenges of some of the largest cities in the world. In early 2012 he presented The Diamond Queen, a 3 part series about the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.^[2]

Early life[link]

Marr was born on 31 July 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland^[3] to Donald and Valerie Marr. His father was an investment trust manager and Marr was educated in Scotland at the independent High School of Dundee, Craigflower School and at Loretto, also an independent school in Musselburgh, East Lothian, where he was a member of Pinkie House. He went on to study English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge gaining first class honours.^[3][4]

He was once a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory. At Cambridge, Marr says he was a "raving leftie", and he acquired the nickname 'Red Andy'.^[5][6]

Newspaper career[link]

Marr joined The Scotsman as a trainee and junior business reporter in 1981. He became a parliamentary correspondent for the newspaper in 1984, moving to London at this time, and then a political correspondent in 1986. During this period, Marr met the political journalist Anthony Bevins, who became Marr's mentor and close friend. Bevins was responsible for Marr's first appointment at The Independent as a member of the newspaper's launch staff.

Marr left shortly afterwards, and joined The Economist, where he contributed the weekly "Bagehot" political column and ultimately became the magazine's political editor in 1988. Marr has remarked that his time at The Economist "changed me quite a lot" and "made me question a lot of my assumptions".^[7] He admits that while working at The Economist he earned himself the jocular nickname ‘Tearound Tessa’ because of his enthusiasm for trips to the canteen on behalf of his colleagues.^[8]

Marr returned to The Independent as the newspaper's political editor in 1992, and became its editor in 1996. His period as editor coincided with a particularly turbulent time at the paper. Faced with price cutting by the Murdoch-owned Times, sales had begun to decline, and Marr made two attempts to arrest the slide. He made use of bold 'poster-style' front pages, and then in 1996 radically re-designed the paper along a mainland European model, with Gill Sans headline fonts, and stories being themed and grouped together, rather than according to strict news value. This tinkering ultimately proved disastrous. The limited advertising budget meant the paper's re-launch struggled to get noticed, and when it did, it was mocked for reinterpreting its original marketing slogan 'It Is - Are You' to read 'It's changed - have you?'. The response from some was that many existing readers had indeed changed - to The Guardian. At the beginning of 1998 Marr was sacked. According to one version of events he was sacked after refusing to implement a further round of redundancies. The author and journalist Nick Cohen writes that Tony Blair's director of communications, Alastair Campbell demanded that David Montgomery, The Independent's publisher, sack Marr over an article which compared Blair with his predecessor John Major. Blair, in the offending article, had written "On the day we remember the legend that St George slayed a dragon to protect England, some will argue that there is another dragon to be slayed: Europe." Marr's offence was to suggest Blair was speaking in bad faith, and that the phrase "some will argue" was a weasel phrase to create distance from an otherwise xenophobic article.^[9]

Three months later he returned to the Independent. Tony O'Reilly had increased his stake in the paper and bought out owners Mirror Group. O'Reilly, who had a high regard for Marr, asked him to collaborate as co-editor with Rosie Boycott, in an arrangement whereby Marr would edit the comment pages, and Boycott would have overall control of the news pages.

Many pundits predicted the arrangement would not last, and two months later Boycott left to replace Richard Addis as editor of the Daily Express. Marr was sole editor again, but only for one week. Simon Kelner, who had worked on the paper when it was first launched accepted the editorship, and asked Marr to stay on as a political columnist. Kelner was not Marr's "cup of tea" Marr observed later, and he left the paper for the final time in May 1998.^[10]

At the BBC[link]

Marr wrote as a columnist for The Daily Express and The Observer before being appointed BBC Political Editor in May 2000. Like his predecessor-but-one John Cole and his famous herringbone overcoat, he soon developed a trademark style, characterised by much gesticulation, as sent up in the comedy impersonation programme Dead Ringers where the impressionists use ridiculously long plastic arms when portraying him. He also became known and widely praised for his ability to describe the background to Westminster gossip and intrigue and explain to viewers and listeners how it would affect their lives. A great believer in the view that "politics matters", Marr championed the democratic process and saw it as part of his role as Political Editor of the BBC to help make politics meaningful and relevant for many people who tended to see politics as the preserve of a remote, largely male and middle aged Westminster clique.

Among his personal scoops as Political Editor were the second resignation of Peter Mandelson, and the interview in late 2004 in which Tony Blair told him that he would not seek a fourth term as Prime Minister should he win the forthcoming general election. Marr was criticised for some of his on air statements during this period. John Pilger claimed that Marr "rejoiced at the vindication of Blair who, he said, had promised 'to take Baghdad without a bloodbath'" during the second Iraq war in March 2003. Pilger has attacked Marr further over an interview with Tony Blair, in which Blair was promoting his memoirs. Pilger is critical towards Marr for not questioning Blair on whether he had colluded with George Bush to invade Iraq and for not bringing up the legality of the invasion.^[11]

During his time as political editor Marr assumed various presentational roles, and announced in 2005 that following the 2005 General Election, he would step down as Political Editor to spend more time with his family. He was replaced as Political Editor by Nick Robinson. In September 2005, he moved to a new role presenting the BBC's Sunday morning flagship news programme Sunday AM, known as The Andrew Marr Show since September 2007;^[12] the slot was previously filled with Breakfast with Frost and hosted by Sir David Frost. Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week.

In May and June 2007, the BBC broadcast Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain. He presented the five one-hour documentaries, and chronicled the history of Britain from 1945 to 2007. Unsold copies of the book of the series, a best seller, were recalled in March 2009 by publishers Macmillan when legal action was taken over false claims that domestic violence campaigner Erin Pizzey had been a member of The Angry Brigade terrorist group.^[13][14] According to her own account, in a Guardian interview in 2001, Pizzey had been present at a meeting when they discussed their intention of bombing Biba, a fashion store, and threatened to report their activities to the police.^[15][16] Damages were paid to Pizzey and Marr's book was republished with the error removed.^[17][18]

Marr has written several books on politics and journalism, notably state-of-the-nation reflection The Day Britain Died (2000) and My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism (2004). The former was a three-part television series shown after Newsnight on BBC Two from 31 January to 2 February 2000. He has also written several articles for the British political magazine Prospect.

In 2008, he presented the prime time BBC One series Britain From Above. The following year, he contributed a three-part series called Darwin's Dangerous Idea to the BBC Darwin Season, celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his theory of evolution. He played a small role as himself in a Doctor Who episode, "World War Three"; reporting Slitheen entering 10 Downing Street, he was noted as himself in the credits. In late 2009, BBC Two broadcast his six-part television series on British politics in the first half of the 20th century Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain.^[19]

In September 2009 on the Sunday before the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Marr interviewed Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Towards the end of the interview, Marr told Brown he wanted to ask about:^[20]

The Prime Minister responded: "No. I think this is the sort of questioning which is all too often entering the lexicon of British politics." Marr was later heavily criticised by Labour politicians,^[21] the media and fellow political journalists for what was described as a vague question which relied on its source being a singular entry on a political blog.^[22] In later interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4 News, John Ward, the author of the Not Born Yesterday blog, admitted that he has no proof to back up the claim.^[23]

Politics[link]

Wikinews has related news: Andrew Marr angers bloggers, describing them as 'inadequate, pimpled and single'

Marr has written about the need to remain impartial and "studiously neutral" whilst delivering news reports and "convey fact, and nothing more".^[24] Marr responded to criticism as "pernicious anti-journalism".^[25]

In the Daily Telegraph he claimed to be a libertarian when discussing his conflicting views on smoking bans.^[26] However, writing in The Guardian, he said "And the final answer, frankly, is the vigorous use of state power to coerce and repress. It may be my Presbyterian background, but I firmly believe that repression can be a great, civilising instrument for good. Stamp hard on certain 'natural' beliefs for long enough and you can almost kill them off. The police are first in line to be burdened further, but a new Race Relations Act will impose the will of the state on millions of other lives too."^[27]

At an October 2006 BBC seminar discussing impartiality, Marr highlighted alleged bias within the BBC. He stated: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities, and gay people. It has a liberal bias, not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias."^[28][29]

Marr spoke at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on 10 October 2010 about political blogging. He claimed that "[a] lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people."^[30]

Other work[link]

Marr has helped support the Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and was the face of a Sense direct marketing appeal. He has also been involved with the charity Common Purpose UK.^{[citation needed]} Marr is President of the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Marr lives in East Sheen, London, with his wife, the political journalist Jackie Ashley of The Guardian, whom he married in August 1987 in Surrey.^[4] She is a daughter of the Labour life peer Lord Ashley of Stoke. The couple have a son and two daughters.^[31]

Privacy injunction[link]

On 28 June 2008, Richard Ingrams reported in The Independent that Marr had obtained a High Court injunction preventing disclosure in the media of "private" information. The order was anonymised, preventing press reporting. The injunction was not mentioned in the UK media until Private Eye commented on it.^[32]

On 26 April 2011, following legal action by Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, an interview with Marr was published in the Daily Mail, in which he revealed that the super-injunction had covered the reporting of an extra-marital affair with a female journalist.^[33] Marr said that he had believed that a child of the journalist was his, but had learned through a DNA test that it was not. He commented: "I did not come into journalism to go around gagging journalists. Am I embarrassed by it? Yes. Am I uneasy about it? Yes. But at the time there was a crisis in my marriage and I believed there was a young child involved. I also had my own family to think about, and I believed this story was nobody else's business."^[34] Hislop had filed a court challenge earlier in April 2011, and described the super-injunction as "pretty rank".^[35]

Awards[link]

In 1995 he was named Columnist of the Year at both the What the Papers Say Awards and the British Press Awards, and received the Journalist Award in the Channel 4 Political Awards of 2001.^[36]

He was considered for honorary membership of The Coterie for 2007.^[37] Marr has received two British Academy Television Awards: the Richard Dimbleby Award at the 2004 ceremony^[38] and the award for Best Specialist Factual Programme (for his History of Modern Britain) at the 2008 ceremony.^[39]

Marr and his wife were both awarded honorary doctorates from Staffordshire University in July 2009.^[40]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Press Office — Andrew Marr — BBC biography
• 'Marr quits as BBC political chief' — BBC News'
• TV is less up itself than newspapers — The Guardian
• Transcript - The Big Idea - BBC, 1996