'san' is The most common honorific, and the one most familiar to non-Japanese. Roughly equivalent to almost all everyday English honorifics, it is generally employed with someone of the same social station as yourself, but can be used any time you need to be generically polite. This is commonly translated as 'mister' or 'ms'. ' han' is the Kansai-ben version of san.

'tan' is a small child's slurred mispronunciation of -chan. If it is used by an adult at all, unless speaking to an infant or toddler, the person is most likely either being sarcastic, ironic, or a poser Kawaiiko. A non-anime example of this is a certain fast food fried chicken chain's mascot in Japanese advertising, an adorable little girl, "Biscotto-tan," who carries an enormous biscuit on top of her head; her name can probably best be translated as "Widdle Biscuit."

Honorifics are a feature of Japanese language that have been creeping into English dubs and which are frequently carried over intact and unannotated in subtitles. Honorifics are the Japanese equivalent of "Mister", "Mrs.", "Doctor" and the like, except that there are far more of them with far more nuances of meaning than there are in English. They are employed as suffixes to names or in some cases ("sensei", for one) as substitutes for names. Politeness is a critical part of Japanese language and culture, and honorifics are a key element in that. In general they are expressions of respect or endearment, but as with many terms in many languages, delivery — tone and emphasis — can change a title of utmost honor to an insult. Using the wrong honorific, or the right honorific in the wrong way, can result in anything from simple disdain to (in feudal times, at least) clan warfare. Some honorifics can also be employed as stand-alone words.