A friend and I both study Japanese and fairly regularly speak (or at least try to speak - I'm sure many would cringe at hearing us) the language with each other. We're now dealing with the question of which name suffix to use when addressing each other.
He's male, I'm female and we're fairly close friends; he uses -chan with my name...and I'm not sure which one to use with his. -San feels a bit formal and from what I've read I understand it would be inappropriate for me to use -chan with a male friend. I've tried some googling and have come across -kun, but whilst it's certainly used to address or refer to males, would it be used to do so by a female (other than, perhaps, a boy's mother)?
Any and all input would be welcome; thanks in advance!