Could I tell him who's calling?



Could I tell him who's calling?

 and Can I tell her who's calling?; May I tell him who's calling?
a question asked by people who answer the telephone to find out politely who is asking for someone. (Him or her can be replaced by a person's name or by a plural pronoun.) Mary (on the phone): Hello. Could I speak to Bill Franklin? Sally: Could I tell him who's calling? Mary: It's Mary Peters. Sally: Oh yes, he's expecting your call. I'll get him for you.
See also: could, tell

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
SetSET (English), SAYT (English)Egyptian Mythology (Hellenized)
BjarneBYAHR-ne (Danish)Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Bahadur-Persian, Arabic
Kishor-Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Nepali
PetraPET-rah (Finnish), PET-rə (English)German, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Hungarian, Swedish, Finnish, English
GlendaGLEN-dəWelsh, English