Yes, it must have been in Germany where you saw „Herr“ and „Frau“ plus surname on a name plate. In Germany (as well as in
France) you don’t use a foreign person’s first name. People think it’s unrespectful and unfair to call a woman named
Lisa Müller “
Lisa” when she’s a waitress and “Frau Müller” when she’s a businesswoman.
The trend though is that younger people more often use each other’s first names even though they don’t know each other, but they don’t make any differences (occupation, education etc.).
Regards,
Satu