Pre-nominal letters are a title which is placed ''before'' the name of a person as distinct from a post-nominal title which is placed ''after'' the name. Examples of pre-nominal titles, for instance professional titles include:

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, EUR ING (European Engineer), Ir (

Ingenieur An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always requires a non- ...

), CA (Indian Chartered Accountant) and

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

; whilst other common social titles are

Mr. ''Mister'', usually written in its contracted form ''Mr.'' or ''Mr'', is a commonly used English honorific for men without a higher honorific, or professional title, or any of various designations of office. The title 'Mr' derived from earlier ...

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles *Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master, ...

, The Honorable,

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

Mrs. Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard English pronunciation: ) is a commonly used English honorific for women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title (or rank), such as ''Doctor'', ''Profe ...

and Miss. Pre-nominal letters are generally social, but can be professional in nature (e.g. EUR ING).

Academic degrees

In some

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, b ...

an countries all

academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including und ...

s were traditionally pre-nominal. Pre-nominal academic degrees in German-speaking countries include: '' Dipl.-Ing.'' (Master's degree in Engineering), '' Dipl.-Kfm.'' (master's degree in management), ''Dipl.-Phys.'' (master's degree in physics), ''Dipl.-Inf.'' or ''Dipl.-Inform.'' (master's degree in computer science), ''Dr.-Ing.'' (German doctorate in engineering), ''Dr. med.'' (German doctorate in Medicine) and ''Mag.'' (Austrian master's degree (Magister) in all disciplines except engineering). Pursuant to the Bologna process, most of these pre-nominal degrees will be replaced by post-nominal bachelor's and master's degrees; but people who held academic degrees before the Bologna process may continue to use the pre-nominal academic degrees. In contexts where pre-nominal academic letters are used, such degrees may be placed prenominally for consistency (for example, " MMathPhil Marcos Cramer"). In Finland, abbreviated academic titles can appear before or after the name (for example, FM Matti Meikäläinen or Matti Meikäläinen, FM). In the United States a person may at their discretion use "Dr." as a pre-nominal or their doctoral degree's initials as a post-nominal, but rarely at the same time. It would also be very unusual to see a professional license (such as for an engineer) used as a pre-nominal in any form. In Poland, abbreviated academic titles appear as pre-nominal letters: ''inz.'' for holders of inżynier degree (Polish equivalent for a Bachelor of Science (BSc), Bachelor of Engineering (BEng), or

Bachelor of Applied Science The Bachelor of Applied Science, often abbreviated as B.AS., BAS, BSAS, BASc, B.A.Sc., or BAppSc, is an undergraduate degree. There are also ''Bachelor of Arts and Science'' and ''Bachelor of Administration Science'' undergraduate degrees, also a ...

(BASc)) awarded by a polytechnical university or faculty; ''mgr'' for holders of a Magister (Polish equivalent for a master's degree); ''mgr inz.'' for holders of a Magister awarded by a polytechnical university or faculty; ''dr'' for holders of a Doktorat (Polish Doctorate); ''dr inz.'' for holders of a Doktorat awarded by a polytechnical university or faculty; ''dr hab.'' for holders of a Doktorat and a habilitacja (Polish post-doctoral habilitation qualification); ''dr hab. inz.'' for holders of a Doktorat and a habilitacja awarded by a polytechnical university or faculty. In Portugal and the other

Portuguese-speaking countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries ( Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and pol ...

, it is usual for a person with a university degree to be generally referred by the abbreviated pre-nominal title ''dr.'' (''doutor''), independently of the real degree that he or she holds. The main exceptions to this are the holders of degrees in engineering and architecture, who are referred respectively by the pre-nominal abbreviated titles ''eng.'' (''engenheiro'') and ''arq.'' (''arquiteto'').

Order of titles

In the UK, those with both a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

and rank in the

armed forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

(or

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, or

academic titles Academic titles may refer to: * Academic degrees * Academic ranks * Titles of works in academic publishing Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is publishe ...

) put the ''

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

'' after the other title; for example: Lieutenant General Sir William Leishman; His Eminence Sir

Norman Cardinal Gilroy Sir Norman Thomas Gilroy (22 January 1896 – 21 October 1977) was an Australian bishop. He was the first Australian-born cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Early life and priestly ministry Gilroy was born in Sydney, to working-class pa ...

, KBE;

Sir

Richard Peto Sir Richard Peto (born 14 May 1943) is an English statistician and epidemiologist who is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oxford, England. Education He attended Taunton's School in Southampton and subseq ...

References

{{Personal names Titles

Academic degrees

Order of titles

See also

References