I see that when people refered for example to former prime minister taksin shinawatra that they called him mr. taksin. Is the first name used to refer to someone. Which name would we in the west call the family name? Thankyou.

Generally speaking the given name (first name in Europe but it is not listed first everywhere) is used when addressing people or referring to them within the context of a discussion.....in a news article, for instance, some politician might be first mentioned by using the full name and then later referred to by first name only.

Chownah