Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26672295-20151014173912/@comment-1387259-20151014182603

The problem with your argument here is that the Sternritters' names (much like the Arrancar), are written entirely in Katakana, indicating that they are not Japanese names. When someone with a non-Japanese name, particularly with names from languages that list the given name before the surname (English, Spanish, French, etc.), names are written in the same order as their origin language.

Example, let's say my name is John Smith. If I were to go to Japan and introduce myself while speaking Japanese, I would do so as John Smith (or pronounced in Japanese, something like Jōn Sumisu), not Smith John, since my name is not of Japanese origin. The raw-Japanese chapters follow this format as well. Names like Ichigo's are written as "黒崎 一護" (Kurosaki Ichigo) - surname first, but names of not-entirely-Japanese characters, like Gerard Valkyrie, are written as "ジェラルド・ヴァルキリー" (Jerarudo Varukirī) - given name first.