Post-nominal letters: Difference between revisions

Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles or designatory letters, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that that individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, office, 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.

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

In the United States, standard protocol is:^[1]

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

Active duty services personnel do not use any postnominals other than those indicating their breach of service. Names are bracketed by the appropriate pre-nominal and post-nominal, e.g. Firefighter John Doe, CFD.^[1]

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

1. Bt/Bart or Esq;
   • Note that in the UK, Esq. may be used to refer to any gentleman in place of the pre-nominals Mr;^[4]
2. British Orders and decorations (in descending order of precedence, e.g. OBE);
3. Appointments, i.e.:
   (a) Privy Counsellor (PC), Aide-de-Camp to the Queen (ADC(P)), Honorary Physician to the Queen (QHP), Honorary Surgeon to the Queen (QHS), Honorary Dental Surgeon to the Queen (QHDS), Honorary Nursing Sister to the Queen (QHNS), and Honorary Chaplain to the Queen (QHC)
   (b) Queen's Counsel (QC), Justice of the Peace (JP) and Deputy Lieutenant (DL), (according to the Ministry of Justice) Member of Parliament or of a devolved assembly (MP, MSP, AM, 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);^[5]
5. (a) Religious institutes (e.g. SSF),
   (b) Medical qualifications (e.g. FRCP);
6. (a) Fellowship of learned societies (e.g. FRS or FRGS),
   (b) Royal Academicians (RA) and associates (ARA),
   (c) Fellowships, Membership, etc. of professional institutions, associations, etc. (e.g. FICE) – chartered and other professional statuses should be shown before the designatory letters for the relevant professional body (e.g. CEng FMIET; EngTech TMIET),^[6]
   (d) According to Debrett's: Writers to the Signet (WS);
7. According to Debrett's: Member of Parliament (MP);
8. Membership of the Armed Forces (e.g. RAF, RN, VR, RM, RMP).^[7]

In addition, British citizens who have received honours from Commonwealth countries with permission from the Queen are usually allowed to use the postnominals of that honour.^[8]

The Oxford University Style Guide and the University of Nottingham Style Guide give the alternative ordering:^[9][10]

1. Civil Honours
2. Military Honours
3. QC
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 QC, 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, QC)" replacing item 3 (QC) 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.^[11]

Nottingham Trent University gives essentially the same ordering as Oxford and Nottingham, but without specifying the order in which degrees should be given.^[12] 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.^[13] Imperial College London, however, uses all small caps for postnominals (e.g. phd, not PhD).^[14]

Where all degrees are shown, as in university calendars, most universities will give these in ascending order.^[15] However, advice on the precise ordering varies:

• The Oxford University Calendar Style Guide places degrees in the order: bachelor's degrees (including postgraduate bachelor's degrees such as the Oxford BCL) and other first degrees; master's degrees (including those that are first degrees, such as 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.^[16]
• 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.^[11]

Going back to the mid 17th century, today's classical European fraternities such as the German Student Corps are using post-nominal symbols and letters to allow their members to indicate their fraternity membership and honorary positions held in their signature. The German word for the symbol is "Zirkel", literally "circle", referring to the hand-written symbol representing the fraternity which is commonly composed by combining letters from an acronym such as "vivat, crescat, floreat" (Latin: grow, bloom, prosper) followed by the first letter of the fraternity. The word "Zirkel" became a synonym in the late Middle Ages representing the entire group of close brothers. An example was Schiller's use of the sentence "Schließt then heil'gen Zirkel dichter" (literally: closer draw the holy circle [of brothers]) in the original version of the Ode to the Joy.

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 a an IT company she might write "Jane Doe, PhD", and if working in academia she could write "Jane Doe, BS, MS, MBA, PhD".^[1]

The Gregg Reference Manual recommends placing periods between the letters of postnominals (e.g. B.S., Ph.D.), however The Chicago Manual of Style recommends writing degrees without periods (e.g. BS, PhD). If postnominals are give, the full name should be used, without Dr., Mr., Ms., Mrs., or Miss. Other prefixes (e.g. Professor) may be used.^[17]

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In the UK, it is usual to only list doctorates, degrees in medicine, and degrees in divinity.^[5] 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."^[9]

In an academic context, 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). 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,^[16] with a similar ordering being used by other universities.^[18] In this style, foundation degrees and other sub-bachelor qualifications are not shown. An alternative style is to give all higher education qualifications, starting from undergraduate, ordered by their level rather than their title. In this style, one might list a Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education first then foundation degrees, first degrees at bachelor's level, first degrees at master's level (integrated master's degrees and first degrees in medicine), postgraduate degrees at master's level (including postgraduate bachelor's degrees such the Oxford BCL), and doctorates. In this style, postgraduate certificates and diplomas could be shown either before postgraduate degrees at master's level (as in the table given by Loughborough University) or before first degrees at master's level (reflecting their position in the framework for higher education qualifications).^[11][19] Strictly speaking, both the Debrett's and Ministry of Justice lists only allow for the inclusion of degrees, not non-degree academic awards.

In the case of somebody who has a substantive doctorate, it is usual to either give "Dr" as the title (without a stop as 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".^[20]

In the case of a BA from Oxford, Cambridge or Dublin who proceeds to the MA of those universities (which is taken without further study), this replaces the BA and thus only the MA should be listed.^[21] 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.^[22] However, Debrett's has advised using just "MA" to describe someone with an MA from Cambridge.^[23]

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; a list of abbreviations used for university names can be found at Universities in the United Kingdom#Post-nominal abbreviations.

Honorary degrees, if shown, can be indicated either by "Hon" before the post-nominals for the degree or "hc" (for honoris causa) after the post-nominals, e.g. "Professor Evelyn Algernon Valentine Ebsworth CBE, PhD, MA, ScD, DCL hc, FRSC, FRSE" (emphasis added);^[24] "Professor Stephen Hawking Hon.ScD, CH, CBE, FRS" (emphasis added).^[25] The Oxford University Calendar Style Guide recommends not giving honorary degrees in post-nominals.^[26]

Practice in the UK varies from that in the US partly because it is designed to draw attention to the fact that not everybody who possesses a higher ranking award possesses lower ones as well. For example, it is perfectly possible to obtain a PhD without getting a master's degree first. It is also possible for somebody who has never received a formal university education to be awarded an honorary degree. Therefore, it is customary to list all higher educational awards post-nominally although one should not list step qualifications. In other words, lower awards that are wholly incorporated, or automatically converted, into higher-ranking awards should not be listed separately. For example, in the case of an MA from Oxford or Cambridge University, one would style "John Smith, MA(Oxon)" rather than "John Smith, BA(Hons) MA(Oxon)" (since 2007, "Oxf" is also acceptable, and is used in Oxford University publications) - to do otherwise would give the impression that one possesses two distinct academic qualifications.^{[original research?]}

Some confusion arises in the case of step qualifications as distinct from passport qualifications. A step qualification is given to recognise that one has completed part of a higher qualification whereas a passport qualification is often a precondition of going on to a higher qualification. So when the lower qualification is a passport to the higher qualification (e.g. where a bachelor's degree is a requirement for doing a master's degree) or the credit for a lower award (such as a Certificate of Higher Education or Diploma of Higher Education) is not wholly incorporated into a higher award, lower qualifications may be included. However, when the credit for a step qualification such as a Certificate of Higher Education is used to exempt the holder from some of the requirements of a bachelor's degree, in such a case it would be wrong to list one's qualification as "Jane Smith, CertHE BSc". However, if one did not apply some of the credit for one's CertHE to obtaining one's bachelor's degree, it would be acceptable to list both qualifications.^{[original research?]}

Where two different postgraduate qualifications with the same name have been obtained (for example two different postgraduate MAs from King's College London and University of Sussex), this can be indicated by using one degree postnominal, and the abbreviations of the two awarding bodies in parentheses, sometimes joined by the Latin "et" (or with an ampersand), e.g. "Jane Smith MA (KCL et Sussex)", and not "Jane Smith MA MA". However, when qualifications with the same name have been gained through different routes (for example an MA from Oxford University converted from a Bachelor of Arts, and a studied and examined postgraduate degree from King's College London these are listed separately with the institution only listed after the non-examined qualification (e.g. "Jane Smith MA(Oxf) MA", and not "Jane Smith MA (Oxf et KCL)").^{[original research?]}

In the UK there is no defined order of precedence for placing designatory letters for fellowships of learned societies and memberships of professional bodies within their respective groups. For learned societies it is usual to list the most important first (not necessarily the oldest), or if this is not clear then in order in which fellowship was granted, or if this is not know then in alphabetical order. Only postnominals indicating honorific fellowships (e.g. FRS, FBA) 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.^[27][28]

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."^[29]

It should also be noted that 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.^[30] 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 of post-nominal letters:

• A Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire is authorised to use the post-nominal KBE, e.g. "Sir Terry Wogan KBE DL" (DL indicating he was Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire).
• A Fellow of the Royal Society uses the post-nominal FRS and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh FRSE, e.g. "Professor Malcolm Longair CBE, FRS, FRSE" (CBE indicating he is also a Commander of the Order of the British Empire).^[31]
• A Doctor of Philosophy may use the post-nominal PhD or DPhil (according to the usage of the awarding institution), or the pre-nominals Dr or Dr., e.g. Indiana Jones could be styled "Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr." or "Henry Walton Jones, Jr., PhD", but not "Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr., PhD".
• A Postgraduate Diploma is indicated by the post-nominals PgDip. Someone with a BA, MA and postgraduate diploma could write "BA PgDip MA"^[32] or (following the Oxford Calendar's style) "BA MA PgDip".
• Commonly seen postnominsls for religious orders include OFM for the Franciscans (Order of Friars Minor), SJ for the Jesuits (Society of Jesus), e.g. "Jorge Bergoglio, SJ,^[33] and OP for the Dominicans (Order of Preachers); most other Catholic religious institutes have specific post-nominal letters.
• A BA graduate of the Open University could indicate the university from which they got their degree using "BA (Open)" or "BA Open".
• Someone with a BSc from Cardiff, an MSc from London and a PhD from Cardiff could write "BSc PhD Card, MSc Lond", or "BSc (Card), MSc (Lond), PhD (Card)"; alternatively they could choose to omit the lower degrees and simply write "PhD Card" or "PhD (Card)". ("London" may be substituted for"Lond" and "Cardiff" for "Card".) If not indicating the awarding universities, they would wrote "BSc MSc PhD", or simply "PhD".
• A member of the British parliament may use the postnominals "MP", e.g. "Caroline Lucas MP".^[34] Note the post-nominals MP may not be used once someone ceases to be a Member of Parliament, including after Parliament has been prorogued for an election.
• A peer who is a member of the Privy Council may use the postnominals "PC"; for non-peers, the pre-nominal "Right Honourable", abbreviated "Rt Hon", identifies them as members.^[35] Thus: "The Rt Hon David Cameron MP",^[36] but "The Rt Hon Earl Grey KG PC" (KG indicating he was also a Knight of the Garter).
• Chartered status is shown before the relevant professional membership, e.g. "Prof. Dame Carole Jordan DBE FRS CPhys FInstP", where DBE indicates Dame of the Order of the British Empire, FRS Fellow of the Royal Society, CPhys Chartered Physicist, and FInstP Fellow of the Institute of Physics, the awarding body for CPhys.^[37]

• List of post-nominal letters
• Pre-nominal letters

• Letters after the name, Debrett's (UK usage)
• How to Use Post-Nominal Abbreviations, Robert Hickey (US usage)