I just realized that although his good friends often called MacGyver "Mac" for short, we very rarely hear Pete call him Mac.

He nearly always calls him by his full name and in an interesting contrast, Pete's very good friends call him by his full name instead of the short name. Except for MacGyver, he nearly always called him Pete.

So there's a funny little contrast going on there.

Hmmm... interesting.
Also, it's odd that in "Hindsight", Pete mentions to his ex-wife that he hates "Peter" and prefers "Pete," and yet all the women in Pete's life call him "Peter" (Connie, that woman from "Prisoner Of Conscience" and the woman from "Blind Faith." Possibly others as well, but those are the ones that spring to mind.) You'd think those women would know what name he prefers.

Pete did call MacGyver 'Mac' occasionally in seasons 1 & 2.

yeah there was the odd occasion where Pete called him Mac, but for 99% of the time it was MacGyver.

I just found it an interesting, and maybe slightly odd observation.

It kind of gave the impression that MacGyver was his first name. When did we learn that it was his last name?

Just for laughs I checked there is a Angus MacGyver living in Florida.

Which seasons have you seen?

The very first episode I saw was "Hellfire," and I turned it on towards the end, so I thought stupidly thought MacGyver's name was "Mac," and the other guy (I forget his actual name) was named "Gyver." Yep, pretty stupid of me.

Which seasons have you seen?

Remember I'm a nurse who used to work all three shifts. So some episode stand out and some I don't remember at all.

I think that Pete using MacGyver's full name instead of his nickname 'Mac' can be written off to establishing the atmosphere and character of an episode. Someone has to call him 'MacGyver' to inform the audience who he is. Episodes taken in and of themselves, character identities and relations have to be established, especially when the cast is rotated as frequently as it is in this series.

Also, as far as Pete using Mac's nickname infrequently, one could view this as a facet of his character--he is MacGyver's boss (to a degree), so a certain amount of formality is 'in character' for him.

When Pete does call him 'Mac', it is usually in a situation where their friendship comes into play, not their professional relationship (though not always).

MacGyver calls him 'Pete' most of the time, because MacGyver is a less formal person. Sometimes he calls him 'Thornton', which usually cracks me up, because he uses the name like a parent might use a child's whole given name when they have done something they're going to get punished for...

"I remember things like this, Thornton!"

That's how I see it anyway, this whole name-calling business

My favorite is how Jack refers to Pete as "Papa Thornton." Gotta love Jack.

I think that's pretty accurate. I do notice, though, that Mac calling Pete by his last name more or less disappears after the first season (there's some of it in the second, but not as much). I think there's a good explanation for that as well. Remember that Mac is ex-military, and calling people by their last names is standard in that environment. So, as he gets further away from that part of his life, he gets out of that habit.

Cool observation. I don't think I really paid attention to all of that before!

It's something I ran into at one place I worked. Especially when I first started there, a lot of people called me by my last name. Most, if not all, of them were ex-military. (Well, my very unusual first name likely had something to do with it as well!)

We also see it with other characters in the first season: with Kate Connolly ("Hang on, Connolly!") and I think also with the woman in the pilot eppy (her name escapes me now, of course!) This is what makes me think it's a leftover habit from Mac's military days.

I recently re-watched "Nightmares" and "Deathlock" -- the introduction of Pete. When the character was introduced, the writers made a huge point of establishing that he and Mac "went way back" and had a well-established relationship -- and the first time they meet on screen, Pete calls him "Mac".

At that point, they're colleagues; Pete may be senior, but he isn't yet Mac's direct superior. The promotions come in starting with "Deathlock". And by the time Pete is actually Mac's boss at Phoenix, he's using the nickname only rarely -- a slight concession to formality, perhaps.

When I worked in the nursing homes the would call me by my last name. It was either Lewis or Meece. I finally told them my mother had given me a first name and that was what I wanted to be called. The finally made up nicknames for Meece (like Smeeceymouse or Meeceymouse) and for Lewis is was Little bit.

i noiced this as well, Pete Rarely calls MacGyver mac, it may have been who was writeing the script.