Let's say the person is John Smith, first name John, last Smith.

Comparing the following pairs is easy. The latter is more formal than the
former.

  1. John-kun vs John-san
  2. Smith-kun vs Smith-san
  3. John-kun vs Smith-kun
  4. John-san vs Smith-san
  5. John-kun vs. Smith-san (Just combine (1) and (4).)

**Question** : What about Smith-kun vs John-san? How do these compare?

**A weird analogy to describe how I think of Smith-kun vs John-san** : When I
was in secondary school / high school, we were taught that in cafeteria lines,
secondary students should give way to primary school / grade school students
and boys should give way to girls. What happens when **a primary boy and a
secondary girl** enter the line at the same time?

Pretty easy **which rule takes precedence** if this is 1st year primary boy vs
6th year secondary girl, but the ambiguous case is 6th year primary boy vs 1st
year secondary girl.
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politeness names honorifics
How does last name-kun/chan compare to 1st name-san?
If you are asking only about politeness, then John-san would sound politer.
The rule is that _san_ takes precedence.

But in Japan, you won't use first names to call people very often in the first
place. _John-san_ does not sound too weird primarily because it is not a
Japanese name.

Normally, firstname-san would require some kind of relationship between the
speaker and the addressed (e.g. wife and husband). And familyname-kun would
also require* some relationship, e.g. addressing to someone less senior. So as
a practical advice, you should stay away from both if you are not sure of the
implications.

*in case of grownups. Among boys, familyname-kun is quite normal.

* * *

In case of high school students.

Consider [苗木誠 (Naegi
Makoto)](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E8%8B%97%E6%9C%A8%E8%AA%A0), [十神白夜 (Togami
Byakuya)](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E5%8D%81%E7%A5%9E%E7%99%BD%E5%A4%9C), [朝日奈葵
(Asahina Aoi)](https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E6%9C%9D%E6%97%A5%E5%A5%88%E8%91%B5).
Disclaimer: LGBT is not considered.

Though most probably how they call each other is simply the author's choice,
suppose they are real.

First, in case of students of this age*, _family name-san_ would be the norm
when a boy addressing a girl, _family name-kun_ when a girl addressing a boy.
So in reality it is quite normal 苗木 (and 十神) call her 朝日奈さん, and 朝日奈 calls
them 苗木くん/十神くん. (*what I write here should roughly apply to 10+ years old.)

Second I guess use of 葵さん is simply because (1) 朝日奈 is a little long and (2)
あさひなさん is **slightly** hard to pronounce due to the double さ. Use of ちゃん would
sound that the boy knowing her since childhood. It is possible for a high
school boy to use ちゃん if that is how he calls her for a long time, or he is
particularly friendly or even possibly tries to make advance on her.

Third, regarding use of くん from 苗木 to 十神, it looks mostly due to the
personality of 苗木 (who is described お人好しで心優しい性格の、平和主義な常識人). Apart from the
soft personality, use of くん could mean 苗木 feels distance toward 十神. Calling
白夜君 won't be impossible , but this also kind of suggests knowing him for a
long time.

In reality, boys call each other by family name alone if they are close
enough. If they talk to each other every day, they would quite probably call
each other 苗木/十神. If they are in the same class, know each other, but are not
close, then 苗木くん/十神くん are likely. Students who speak in a rough way would use
苗木/十神 even to peers of such a relationship.

* * *

So these depend on age, relationship, speaker's personality, etc. Another
factor is names themselves. I myself once wondered why 夏目漱石/森鴎外/芥川龍之介 are
referred to as 漱石/鴎外/芥川, but after all these are just conventions, possibly
due to the ease of pronunciations.
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