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,

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), CA (Indian Chartered Accountant) and Professor; 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, The Honorable, Ms., Mrs. and

Miss Miss (pronounced ) is an English language honorific typically used for a girl, for an unmarried woman (when not using another title such as "Doctor" or "Dame"), or for a married woman retaining her maiden name. Originating in the 17th century, it ...

. 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, by ...

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 unde ...

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 (BASc)) awarded by a polytechnical university or faculty; ''mgr'' for holders of a

Magister Magister is Latin for "master" or "teacher". It may refer to: Positions and titles * Magister degree, an academic degree * Magister equitum, or Master of the Horse * Magister militum, a master of the soldiers * Magister officiorum (''master of o ...

(Polish equivalent for a master's degree); ''mgr inz.'' for holders of a

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 Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

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 po ...

, 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 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, or academic titles) put the '' Sir'' after the other title; for example: Lieutenant General Sir William Leishman;

His Eminence His Eminence (abbreviation H.Em. or H.E. or HE) is a style (manner of address), style of reference for high nobility, still in use in various religious contexts. Catholicism The style remains in use as the official style or standard form of a ...

Sir Norman Cardinal Gilroy,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

; Professor Sir Richard Peto.

References

{{Personal names Titles

Academic degrees

Order of titles

See also

References