What's in a Name? (or Title)

At GDS, we are in the practice of calling each other by our first names, without titles, regardless of whether one is a student or faculty member, and regardless of rank. This has been in practice since the early days of Georgetown Day School.

The backstory is that in the Jim Crow South (roughly from the late 19th century through the mid-1960s, including the time when GDS was founded), Black adults were expected to use titles when referring to white children, but white children were to refrain from using titles with Black adults. This etiquette governing social interactions was a deliberate way to reinforce white supremacy.

GDS founders not only embraced integration but also directly opposed the racial caste system embedded in Jim Crow norms, including those reflected in forms of address and daily interactions. So they dispensed with titles altogether in their new school. They may also have considered that addressing each other by first name creates an intimacy that builds trust, which is vital to community.

Dispensing with titles was seen as a radical act. It can still be viewed as such. Over the years, GDS community members have written about the subject, including current Head of School Russell Shaw, who in 2021 blogged about a time when Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington Post columnist and GDS parent Art Buchwald also wrote about it.

Third Head of School Gladys Stern reportedly once said to a teacher on the subject:

“Honey, being called Mr. or Mrs. gives you authority for exactly twenty-four hours, until the kids find out the answer to two very important questions: Do you know what you are talking about, and do you love them? If the answer to either of those questions is no, there are a lot of disrespectful ways a kid can say ‘Mister.’”

As “first names only” is still in practice today at GDS, here are a few thoughts, feelings, and reflections our current faculty and students have shared about what this practice means to them:

“To me, it means everything. It is a constant reminder of the history that underpins our school's most important values.”

–HS History Teacher James Elish

“It makes me feel more connected with my teachers.”

–Senior Ryan Libby ’26

“For me personally, it dissolves the traditional barrier between teacher and student, emphasizing that education is a shared pursuit of knowledge rather than a top-down exchange of power. I also recall Russell sharing something at my hiring about the origins of this tradition. This is what I remember: calling teachers by their first names isn’t just a tradition at GDS, it’s a statement. When the school first desegregated over 80 years ago, it refused to accept a system where respect was tied to race or title. Instead, it chose a simple, radical gesture: everyone would use first names. That choice continues to remind us that respect is earned through humanity, not hierarchy.”

–Lower School Instructional Coach Sarah Tiamiyu

“It’s always been our way. I think in my first year, famously terrible, it made things harder. I still remember making a perfectly reasonable statement in class and having a student respond, ‘I don’t know about that, Sue!’ In the end, however, it brings us closer together.”

                  –HS History Teacher Sue Ikenberry

“I feel my most authentic self when I get to just be ‘Julia.’”

        –LMS History Teacher Julia Blount 

“I remember [when I started working at GDS] that during staff week in August, I found out that everyone at GDS was addressed by their first name. I was shocked and wasn’t sure if I could go along with that. I was a Southern-born Black woman, and that was definitely not socially acceptable. However, I needed a job and learned to accept it. I will say my family and friends outside of GDS do not know, even after all of these years. I figured it would lead to too many questions. Interestingly, not because I asked anyone to do so, many students and their parents address me as ‘Ms. Judy.’ I have to say, I love that.”

–LMS History Teacher Judy Brown

“I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy this practice. From the outside, it seems a bit weird. But now that I’m living it, I’m all in. It just feels right.”

–HS Math Teacher Grant Franke

“Respect isn’t earned through a title.”

–HS History Teacher and Track and Cross Country Coach Anthony Belber

“The practice of addressing each other by our first names is one of the most important things that makes GDS, GDS. As a lifer, this is something that's been an unchanging part of my scholastic experience, and it is, in my view, a wonderful democratizing and leveling force within the school community. The fact that we address a first grader and the head of school with the same formality is something that is special and must be guarded carefully.”

–Senior Dominic Bloch-Prime ’26