Post-nominal letters

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation, an office, a military decoration, or honour, or is a member of a religious institute or fraternity. An individual may use several different sets of post-nominal letters, but in some contexts it may be customary to limit the number of sets to one or just a few. The order in which post-nominals are listed after a name is based on rules of precedence and what is appropriate for a given situation. Post-nominal letters are one of the main types of name suffix. In contrast, pre-nominal letters precede the name rather than following it, such as addressing a physician or professor as "Dr. Smith".

List

Different awards and post-nominal letters are in use in the English-speaking countries.

Usage

Listing order

The order in which post-nominal letters are listed after a person's name is dictated by standard practice, which may vary by region and context.

In Australia

Various University Style Guides, such as: the University of Sydney Style Guide and the Australian Government Style Manual and that of the various State Governments.

Outside of any specific academic or State or Federal Government requirement, then in the following order:

  1. Those Honours promulgated by the Governor-General in the Commonwealth Government Gazette, e.g. Current National and former Imperial honours
  2. Those Honours and Appointments promulgated by a State Governor or Territory Administrator in the relevant State Government Gazette, e.g. Fellows of the Royal Society of NSW (FRSN), King's Counsels (KC).
  3. All honorary degrees included in an Australian university's Annual Report to an Australian Parliament.
  4. Fellowships and memberships of professional bodies and learned societies incorporated by a statutory instrument i.e a Royal Charter under the Australian (not a foreign) Crown (e.g. the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Institution of Engineers Australia, the Australian Institute of Building, and the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy) or an Act of Parliament (such as the Bar Associations of some States)
  5. Parliamentary designations
  6. Foreign Honours where permitted by Australian Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.
  7. Fellowships and memberships of other Australian Professional Institutions.
  8. Australian Qualifications, ideally with date and institution, in descending order (with the highest closest after the name).
  9. Foreign Professional Memberships.
  10. Foreign Qualifications.

In Canada

The Canadian government's The Canadian Style specifies that no more than two sets of post-nominal letters should normally be given, unless all are to be given either for information or for reasons of protocol, and that these should be the two highest of different types. The types and the order in which they are given are:[1]

  1. Distinctions conferred directly by the Crown
  2. University degrees
  3. Memberships of societies and other distinctions

In European fraternities

Going back to the mid 17th century, today's classical European fraternities such as the German Student Corps have used post-nominal symbols and letters to allow their members to indicate their fraternity membership and honorary positions held in their signature.

The Zirkel of a German Student Corps. This symbol captures the letters "v, c, f, A", as post-nominal for that fraternity.

Order of post-nominals in the UK

Civil usage in the UK

In the United Kingdom various sources have issued guidance on the ordering of styles and titles for British citizens, including the Ministry of Justice, Debrett's and A & C Black's Titles and Forms of Address; these are generally in close agreement, with the exception of the position of MP, etc., in the listing:[2][3][4]

  1. Bt/Bart or Esq;
    • In the UK, "Esq." may refer to any gentleman in place of the pre-nominal Mr or Dr;[5]
  2. OBE
    ; in descending order of precedence);
  3. Crown Appointments, i.e.:
    1. Deputy Lieutenant (DL); (according to the Ministry of Justice) Member of Parliament or of a devolved assembly (MP, MSP, MS, MLA
      );
  4. University degrees:
    • According to Debrett's, DD, MD and MS degrees are always given; other doctorates, other medical degrees, and other divinity degrees are sometimes given; and other degrees are seldom shown, with BA and MA never used socially (although formal lists may include them);[6]
  5.  
    1. SSF),
    2. Medical qualifications (e.g. FRCP
    );
  •  
    1. Fellowship of
      Writers to the Signet
      (WS);
  • According to Debrett's and Black's: Member of Parliament (MP), etc.[clarification needed] (Black's also includes Writers to the Signet here);
  • Membership of the Armed Forces (e.g. RAF, RN, VR, RM, RMP) (not included by Black's).[8]
  • In addition, British citizens who have received honours from Commonwealth countries are usually given permission from the King to use the postnominals for that honour.[9]

    Academic usage in the UK

    The Oxford University Style Guide and the University of Nottingham Style Guide give the alternative ordering:[10][11]

    1. Civil honours
    2. Military honours
    3. KC
    4. Degrees in the order:
      1. Bachelor's
      2. Master's
      3. Doctorates
      4. Postdoctoral
    5. Diplomas
    6. Certificates
    7. Membership of academic or professional bodies

    This differs from the civil ordering in that it omits appointments except for KC, includes diplomas and certificates in addition to degrees, merges medical qualifications, fellowships of learned societies, royal academicians, and membership of professional bodies into a single item, and omits membership of the armed forces.

    Loughborough University gives a very similar ordering, but with "Appointments (e.g MP, KC)" replacing item 3 (KC) and "Higher Education awards (in ascending order, commencing with undergraduate)" replacing items 4–6 (degrees, diplomas and certificates). This restores the Appointments section from the civil list omitted by Oxford and Nottingham, although the other differences remain.[12]

    Nottingham Trent University gives essentially the same ordering as Oxford and Nottingham, but without specifying the order in which degrees should be given.[13] Nottingham Trent, Oxford and Loughborough recommend degree abbreviations be given in mixed case without stops between the letters (e.g. BA, not B.A.; PhD, not Ph.D.), as does Cambridge.[14] Imperial College London, however, uses all small caps for post-nominals (e.g. phd, not PhD).[15]

    Where all degrees are shown, as in university calendars, most universities will give these in ascending order.[16] However, advice on the precise ordering varies:

    • The
      MPhys); doctorates; higher doctorates in order of academic precedence. Degrees at the same level are ordered alphabetically by awarding institution and multiple degrees from the same institution are grouped, with position determined by the lowest degree in the grouping. Certificates and diplomas are listed after degrees (no mention is made of foundation degrees). Oxford recommends giving institution names separated by a space from the degree, not enclosed in parentheses, and that degrees from the same institution be separated by spaces only, with commas between degrees from different institutions.[17]
    • Loughborough University advises listing all higher education awards in ascending order starting from undergraduate, so MPhys would come before BCL and postgraduate certificates and diplomas would come between undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The examples given do not include institution names.[12]

    Order of post-nominals in the United States

    In the United States, standard protocol is to list post-nominal letters in the following order:[18]

    1. Religious institutions
    2. Theological degrees
    3. Military decorations
    4. Academic degrees
    5. Honorary degrees, honors, decorations
    6. Professional licenses, certifications and affiliations
    7. Retired uniformed service.

    Active duty services personnel do not use any post-nominals other than, if applicable, Staff Corps affiliation (Navy only) followed by a comma and then their branch of service. Names are bracketed by the appropriate pre-nominal and post-nominal, e.g. LCDR John Q Public, MC, USN.[18]

    Etiquette for higher educational qualifications

    Higher education qualifications in the UK

    In the UK, it is usual to list only doctorates, degrees in medicine, and degrees in divinity.[6] In particular, when a person has letters indicating Crown honours or decorations, only the principal degree would normally be given.[3] The University of Oxford Style Guide advises writers: "Remember that you do not need to list all awards, degrees, memberships etc held by an individual – only those items relevant to your writing."[10]

    In an academic context, or in formal lists, all degrees may be listed in ascending order of academic status, which may not be the same as the order in which they were obtained (although see notes on medical qualifications, below). The Oxford style is to list qualifications by their title starting with bachelor's degrees, then master's degrees, then doctorates. Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas are listed after doctorates, but before professional qualifications,

    Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies).[12][20]
    Strictly speaking, both the Debrett's and Ministry of Justice lists only allow for the inclusion of degrees, not non-degree academic awards.

    For someone with a substantive doctorate, it is usual either to give "Dr" as the title (without a stop per normal British usage) or to list their degrees post-nominally, e.g. "Dr John Smith" or "John Smith, PhD" but not "Dr John Smith, PhD". Postnominals may be used with other titles, e.g. "Mr John Smith, PhD", "Sir John Smith, PhD", or "The Rev John Smith, PhD".[21]

    In the case of a BA from Oxford, Cambridge or Dublin who proceeds to be an

    MA of those universities (which is taken without further study), the MA replaces the BA and thus only the MA should be listed.[22] Oxford has said that there is no risk of confusion between their MA and "earned" MAs as the Oxford MA is denoted "MA (Oxon)" rather than simply MA.[23] However, Debrett's has advised using just "MA" to describe a Cambridge Master of Arts.[24]

    Graduates from British and Irish universities sometimes add the name of the university that awarded their degree after the post-nominals for their degree, either in parentheses or not, depending on preferred style. University names are often abbreviated and sometimes given in Latin, e.g."BA, MA (Dunelm), PhD (Ebor)";[25] a list of abbreviations used for university names can be found at Universities in the United Kingdom#Post-nominal abbreviations. Where the same degree has been granted by more than one university, this can be shown by placing the names or abbreviations in a single bracket after the degree name, e.g. "Sir Edward Elgar, Mus.D. (Oxon., Cantab., Dunelm. et Yale, U.S.A.), LL.D. (Leeds, Aberdeen, and W. University, Pennsylvania.)".[26]

    FRSE" (emphasis added);[27] "Professor Stephen Hawking Hon.ScD, CH, CBE, FRS" (emphasis added).[28] The Oxford University Calendar Style Guide recommends not giving honorary degrees in post-nominals.[17]

    Higher education qualifications in the US

    In academia and research, all degrees may be listed. In general, however, it is normal to only list those relevant to the circumstance. For example, if Jane Doe had a BS, MS, and PhD in computer science as well as an MBA, then if working in management in a retail company she would write "Jane Doe, MBA", but if working in an IT company she might write "Jane Doe, PhD", and if working in academia she could write "Jane Doe, BS, MS, MBA, PhD".[18]

    The Gregg Reference Manual recommends placing periods between the letters of post-nominals (e.g., B.S., Ph.D.); however, The Chicago Manual of Style recommends writing degrees without periods (e.g., BS, PhD). If post-nominals are given, the full name should be used, without Dr., Mr., Ms., Mrs., or Miss. Other prefixes (e.g., Professor) may be used.[29]

    Etiquette for medical qualifications

    Medical qualifications in the UK

    In contrast to the style for academic qualifications, medical qualifications are listed in descending order, i.e.: doctorates, master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, postgraduate diplomas, and qualifying diplomas. Letters indicating doctorates, master's degrees and fellowships of royal colleges are always given, while bachelor's degrees, memberships and qualifying diplomas are only shown for people with no higher qualifications. In all but formal lists, only three medical qualifications are normally given.[30]

    Where someone holds qualifications in multiple fields, they are normally given in the order: medicine, surgery (except for MRCS, which is considered a qualifying diploma), obstetrics, gynaecology and other specialities. These are followed by qualifying diplomas and other diplomas.[31]

    The academic style guides do not have a separate section for medical qualifications, so if following one of these guides, medical degrees should be listed with other degrees, medical diplomas with other diplomas, and fellowships and memberships of royal colleges with other fellowships and memberships of professional bodies.

    Etiquette for fellowships or memberships

    Learned societies and professional bodies in Africa

    In

    African Planning Society
    are entitled to place postnominal letters behind their names:

    • An Associate of the
      African Planning Society is entitled to use postnominals, FAPS, e.g. "Innocent Chirisa FAPS."[32]

    Learned societies, royal academies and professional institutions in the UK

    In the UK there is, according to

    professional bodies within their respective groups. Debrett's suggests that "In practice, where one society is indisputably of greater importance than another the letters are usually placed in that order. Alternatively, the fellowship of the junior society may be omitted. If such precedence cannot be determined, the letters may be placed in order of conferment. Where this is not known, they may be placed in alphabetical order."[33] Earlier guidance that "Strictly speaking, they should be arranged according to date of foundation or incorporation of the societies concerned"[34]
    has now been removed.

    Only postnominals indicating honorific fellowships (e.g., FRS, FBA, FREng) are normally used socially. For professional bodies it is usual to list those most relevant to a person's profession first, or those most relevant to the particular circumstances. It is common to omit fellowships (except honorific fellowships) and memberships that are not relevant in a given situation.[33][35]

    Debrett's notes that although

    Royal Academicians are listed after fellows of learned societies (and before members of professional bodies), they do not yield to them in precedence, "In practice the two lists do not coincide."[36]

    The distinction between a learned society and a professional body is not well defined. Many organisations (e.g., the Royal Society of Chemistry) claim to be both learned societies and professional bodies.[37] However, it is clear from both the Ministry of Justice and Debrett's that only fellowships of learned societies are listed, while fellowships and memberships may be listed for professional bodies.

    Examples

    Examples of post-nominal letters:

    See also

    References

    1. ^ "1.08 University degrees, professional designations, military decorations, honours, awards and memberships". The Canadian Style. Public Works and Government Services Canada. 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
    2. ^ "Honours and Decorations". Ministry of Justice (UK). 2009-03-14. Archived from the original on 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
    3. ^ a b "Forms of address: Hierarchies: Letters after the name". Debrett's. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
    4. .
    5. ^ "Untitled Men". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016.
    6. ^ a b "Professions". Debrett's.
    7. ^ "Use of designatory letters". Institution of Engineering and Technology. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
    8. ^ "Letters after the name: Armed Forces". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
    9. ^ "Commonwealth Honours". Royal.uk. 12 November 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    10. ^ a b University of Oxford Style Guide (PDF). University of Oxford. 2016. p. 20. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    11. ^ "Names and titles". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    12. ^ a b c "Post-Nominal Letters". Loughborough University. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
    13. ^ NTU Marketing. Editorial Style Guide for Print Publications and Web. Nottingham Trent University. p. 9. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    14. ^ Communications Resources (24 January 2014). "Editorial Style Guide". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    15. ^ "Imperial College London House Style" (PDF). Imperial College London. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    16. ^ "Questions on Professions". Debrett's. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
    17. ^ a b c Calendar Style Guide (PDF). University of Oxford. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-08-20. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
    18. ^ a b c Hickey, Robert. "Forms of Address". Honor & Respect. The Protocol School of Washington. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
    19. ^ "Names and titles". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    20. ^ "Diagram of higher education qualification levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland" (PDF). UK NARIC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    21. ^ "Doctor". Debrett's. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    22. ^ "The Oxford MA". Oriel College, Oxford. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    23. ^ John Carvel (18 October 1999). "Oxbridge defends automatic MAs under threat from quality watchdog". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 May 2016. There was no question of confusing an Oxford MA with a taught MA because the university did not offer specific MA courses and graduates used the title MA (Oxon) rather than just MA.
    24. ^ "Questions on Professions". Debrett's. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    25. ^ "Peter Fifield". Birkbeck, University of London. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
    26. ^ Calendar for the Session 1907 - 1908. University of Birmingham. 1907. p. 374.
    27. ^ "Professor Evelyn Algernon Valentine Ebsworth CBE, PhD, MA, ScD, DCL hc, FRSC, FRSE". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
    28. ^ "Professor Stephen Hawking Hon.ScD, CH, CBE, FRS". Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
    29. ^ "Academic Degrees & Professional Designations". Accu-Assist. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    30. ^ "Medical Qualifications". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
    31. ^ "Religious and Medical Qualifications". Debrett's. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
    32. ^ "Postnominal Letters of the African Planning Society". African Planning Society. Retrieved 17 April 2022.[permanent dead link]
    33. ^ a b "Fellowships of Learned Societies". Debrett's. 28 March 2016. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
    34. ^ "Fellowships of Learned Societies". Wayback Machine. Debrett's. 3 February 2014. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
    35. ^ "Professional Fellowships". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
    36. ^ "Royal Academicians and Associates". Debrett's. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
    37. ^ "Our Charter". Royal Society of Chemistry. Retrieved 29 May 2016. 'As a learned society we are concerned with advancing chemistry as a science, developing its applications, and disseminating chemical knowledge. As a professional body we maintain professional qualifications and set high standards of competence and conduct for professional chemists. We also provide a wide range of services and activities of value both to members, and to the community.' (emphasis added)
    38. ^ "Professor Malcolm Longair CBE, FRS, FRSE". University of Cambridge Department of Physics. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
    39. ^ "Peter McAllister, BA, PGDip, MA". Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
    40. ^ Thomas Reese (30 April 2013). "The Mind of Francis: Denying Communion". National Catholic Reporter.
    41. ^ "Caroline Lucas MP". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
    42. ^ "Privy Counsellors and Crown Appointments". Archived from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.)
    43. ^ "Rt Hon David Cameron MP". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
    44. ^ "Annual Review 2007" (PDF). Institute of Physics. 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
    45. ^ "Canon Mark Tanner announced as new Suffragan Bishop of Berwick". Diocese of Newcastle. 1 September 2016. Archived from the original on 5 September 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
    46. ^ This was a custom that is already found in the writings of Jan-Baptist Hauwaert, NPB (1533–1599).

    External links