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".
30-637: Peter Trudgill , FBA ( / ˈ t r ʌ d ɡ ɪ l / TRUD -gil ; born 7 November 1943) is an English sociolinguist , academic and author. Trudgill was born in Norwich , England, and grew up in the area of Thorpe St Andrew . He attended the City of Norwich School from 1955. Trudgill studied modern languages at King's College, Cambridge and obtained a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1971. Before becoming professor of sociolinguistics at
60-485: A Cambridge Master of Arts. 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)"; a list of abbreviations used for university names can be found at Universities in
90-477: 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
120-539: Is also the author of Chapter 1 ("The Meanings of Words Should Not be Allowed to Vary or Change") of the popular linguistics book "Language Myths" that he co-edited. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters , and a Fellow of the British Academy. Since February 2017, Trudgill has written weekly columns relating to European languages in the weekly newspaper The New European . At
150-736: Is an honorary Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of East Anglia , in Norwich, England. On 2 June 1995 he received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Humanities at Uppsala University , Sweden . He also has honorary doctorates from UEA ; La Trobe University, Melbourne; the University of Patras, Greece; and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. He has carried out linguistic fieldwork in Britain , Greece and Norway , and has lectured in most European countries , Canada,
180-491: Is based on published work and fellows may use the post-nominal letters FBA . Examples of Fellows are Edward Rand ; Mary Beard ; Roy Porter ; Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford ; Michael Lobban ; M. R. James ; Friedrich Hayek ; John Maynard Keynes ; Lionel Robbins ; and Rowan Williams . This award -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Post-nominal letters Different awards and post-nominal letters are in use in
210-432: 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". The Gregg Reference Manual recommends placing periods between
240-446: 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 level, first degrees at master level (integrated master's degrees and first degrees in medicine), postgraduate degrees at master level (including postgraduate bachelor's degrees such
270-448: 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. 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
300-638: 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. 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
330-593: The University of Essex he taught in the Department of Linguistic Science at the University of Reading from 1970 to 1986. He was professor of English language and linguistics at the University of Lausanne , Switzerland, from 1993 to 1998, and then at the University of Fribourg , also in Switzerland, from which he retired in September 2005, and where he is now professor emeritus of English Linguistics. He
SECTION 10
#1732780388030360-592: The English-speaking countries. 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. 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
390-618: 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 Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications of UK Degree-Awarding Bodies ). Strictly speaking, both the Debrett's and Ministry of Justice lists only allow for
420-453: The UK there is, according to Debrett's , no defined order of precedence for placing designatory letters for fellowships of learned societies and memberships of 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
450-715: The UK, and to provide a framework for studying dialect contact phenomena. He has carried out studies on rhoticity in English , tracking trends in British rock music for decades; the Beatles' decreased pronunciation of Rs over the course of the 1960s He was a member of the committee for England and Wales for the Atlas Linguarum Europae in the 1970s, doing some research on the East Anglian sites. Trudgill
480-552: The UK, it is usual to list only doctorates, degrees in medicine, and degrees in divinity. In particular, when a person has letters indicating Crown honours or decorations, only the principal degree would normally be given. 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." In an academic context, or in formal lists, all degrees may be listed in ascending order of academic status, which may not be
510-508: 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.)". Honorary degrees , if shown, can be indicated either by "Hon" before
540-643: The United States, Colombia , Australia, New Zealand , India , Thailand , Hong Kong, Fiji , Malawi and Japan. Peter Trudgill has been the president of the Friends of Norfolk Dialect society since its inception in 1999. and contributes a regular column on language and languages in Europe to the New European newspaper. Trudgill is one of the first to apply Labovian sociolinguistic methodology in
570-562: 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. 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. However, Debrett's has advised using just "MA" to describe
600-752: The end of 2017, he signed the Declaration on the Common Language of the Croats , Serbs , Bosniaks and Montenegrins . His works include: Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy ( post-nominal letters FBA ) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: The award of fellowship
630-674: The exception of the position of MP, etc., in the listing: 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. The Oxford University Style Guide and the University of Nottingham Style Guide give the alternative ordering: 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
SECTION 20
#1732780388030660-437: The following order: 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: Going back to the mid 17th century, today's classical European fraternities such as
690-431: 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". In
720-499: 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." Earlier guidance that "Strictly speaking, they should be arranged according to date of foundation or incorporation of the societies concerned" has now been removed. Only postnominals indicating honorific fellowships (e.g., FRS , FBA , FREng ) are normally used socially. For professional bodies it
750-901: 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. 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. Where someone holds qualifications in multiple fields, they are normally given in
780-662: 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. 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. In Africa , learned societies and professional bodies use designatory letters for their members and fellowships. For example: In
810-613: The other differences remain. Nottingham Trent University gives essentially the same ordering as Oxford and Nottingham, but without specifying the order in which degrees should be given. 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 . Imperial College London , however, uses all small caps for post-nominals (e.g. phd , not PhD). Where all degrees are shown, as in university calendars, most universities will give these in ascending order. However, advice on
840-455: 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); "Professor Stephen Hawking Hon.ScD , CH, CBE, FRS" (emphasis added). The Oxford University Calendar Style Guide recommends not giving honorary degrees in post-nominals. In academia and research, all degrees may be listed. In general, however, it
870-415: The precise ordering varies: In the United States, standard protocol is to list post-nominal letters in the following order: 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. In
900-512: 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, with a similar ordering being used by other universities. In this style, foundation degrees and other sub-bachelor qualifications are not shown. An alternative style
#29970