Is Kiryu is first or last name?

[Dylan]

Is Kiryu is first or last name?

[Devsman]

It's his surname. Given name Kazuma. Almost everyone refers to adult male characters by their surname. Majima instead of Goro, Kiryu instead of Kazuma, Nishikiyama instead of Akira.

This comes up in both characters' stories, but only in substories. In one of Majima's, he pretends to be this chick's boyfriend, and she insists on calling him Goro to put on the air that they're super close. Majima is unhappy with being called by his given name by a stranger, but does oblige. In Kiryu's story, the Pocket Circuit Fighter calls him Kazuma-kun, to which Kiryu similarly initially objects. Bearing in mind that most Pocket Circuit racers are children, no exception is made for Kazuma-kun.

It's confusing because name ordering is different between Japanese and English speaking people. In Japan, the surname comes first, while in the English speaking world, the given name comes first. It wouldn't be that difficult of a rule to remember, except in the localization process they'll often reverse it so the given name comes first, and it's not always clear whether they did or didn't. Especially with a name English speakers aren't especially familiar with. The other issue is that Kazuma, Kiryu's given name, sounds a lot like Kazama, which is his adopted father's surname.

tl;dr: almost every male character is referred to by their surname, including Kiryu. Kiryu is his surname.

[Lar Dass]

surname, but call him kiryu

[かおりちゃん]

桐生一馬 - 苗字 でもみんなは彼を桐生と呼ぶ

[sley]

John Yakuza

[Cresso]

I know this is an old thread but no, Kiryu is NOT his surname. Kazuma is. His father is also a Kazuma and Kiryu was set to lead the Kazuma family before he went to jail. It's made pretty clear that Kiryu is his given name and Kazuma is his surname. Pretty sure he just prefers being called Kiryu. Plenty of people still call him Kazuma though. He objected to "Kazuma-kun" not because of the "Kazuma" part but because of the "kun" part because it's essentially calling him a boy rather than a man. As for Majima, his given name is indeed Goro, with his surname being Majima.

[Cresso]

Ok so apparently I'm wrong, his father's surname is Kazama, so Kiryu is definitely the surname here. My bad. Not sure why they made the two names so similar. I can see why this is such a big debate.