Suffix (name)

Aname suffixin the WesternEnglish-languagenaming tradition, follows a person's first name and provides additional information about the person.Post-nominal lettersindicate that the individual holds a position, educational degree, accreditation, office, or honor (e.g. "PhD","CCNA","OBE"). Other examples include generational designations like" Sr. "and" Jr. "and" I "," II "," III ", etc.

Post-nominal letters

Main article:Post-nominal letters

Academic

Academic suffixes indicate the degree earned at acollegeoruniversity.These includebachelor's degrees(AB, BA, BS, BE, BFA, BTech, LLB, BSc, etc.),master's degrees(MA,MS, MFA, LLM,MLA,MBA, MSc, MEng etc.), professionaldoctorates(JD,MD,DO,PharmD,DMin,etc.), and academicdoctorates(PhD, EdD, DPhil, DBA, LLD, EngD, etc.)

In the case of doctorates, normally either the prefix (e.g. "Dr" or "Atty" ) or thesuffix(see examples above) is used, but not both. In the United States, the suffix is the preferred format (thus allowing differentiation between types of doctorate) in written documentation.

Degree	Type	Suffix
Bachelor's	Bachelor of Arts	A.B. or B.A.
	Bachelor of Education	B.Ed
	Bachelor of Fine Arts	B.F.A.
	Bachelor of Science	B.S., B.Sc., or B.E.
	Bachelor of Technology	B.Tech. or B.T
	Bachelor of Laws	L.L.B. or J.D.
Master's	Master of Arts	M.A.
	Master of Business Administration	M.B.A.
	Master of Fine Arts	M.F.A.
	Master of Liberal Arts	M.L.A.
	Master of Science	M.S. or M.Sc
	Master of Social Work	M.S.W.
	Master of Laws	M.L. or LL.M.

Honorary

Such titles may be given by:

• amonarch(for example, KBE, a suffix granted to Knights Commander of theOrder of the British Empire);
• auniversity(as in aLLD(Doctor of Laws) given in recognition of a person's life achievements rather than their academic standing);
• achurchor seminary, who may offer an honoraryDoctor of Divinity(DD) to outstanding ministers or teachers.

Esquire

The styleEsq.orEsquirewas once used to distinguish a man who was an apprentice to a knight and is used for a man of socially high ranking. In the United States,Esq.is used as a professional styling for a licensed attorney. In the United Kingdom, it is largely obsolete but occasionally used by untitled males in social and business contexts.

Professional

Professional titles includeEsq.,often used for anattorney(but not necessarily) in the United States who has passed a state bar examination, and CSA (casting) and ASCAP, which indicate membership in professional societies. The suffix CA is used for individuals who have completed the requirements to become aChartered Accountant.The suffix CPA is also used for individuals who have completed the requirements to become aCertified Public Accountant.Similarly,Chartered Financial Analystsuse the suffix CFA. Sommeliers (restaurant wine professionals) who have passed theMaster Sommelierexam use the MS suffix. Engineers that are certified as aProfessional Engineerin his or her state will use the suffix PE (PEng in Canada), Certified Professional Geologists use PG, Certified Professional Logisticians use CPL, andChartered Engineersuse CEng. Likewise,Registered Architectssometimes use the suffix RA, or more often a suffix such as AIA or RIBA that refers to their professional society. Examination Office personnel within the United Kingdom who are registered with the Examination Officers' Association use MEOA. In the United States, professional archaeologists registered with theRegister of Professional Archaeologistsuse the suffix RPA.

Project managersthat have obtained certification asProject Management Professionalsfrom theProject Management Institutemay use the suffix PMP after their name. Similarly, individuals who hold certifications in the field ofinformation security—e.g.CISA,CISSP,and/orCISM—may use them as suffixes.

The suffix PT is used by Physical Therapists to denote their state certification, but not to be confused with DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) which is a qualifying degree. British physiotherapists prefer to use MCSP or SRP to denote membership to professional bodies. RN is used by qualified nurses as a suffix.

Officers and enlisted in theUnited States Militarywill add an abbreviation of the service frequently to disambiguate seniority, and reserve status. For example, Captain Smith, USN (O-6), outranks Captain Jones, USMC (O-3).

Red Seal certified trades people in Canada can use the Red Seal Endorsement (RSE) acronym.

Religious orders

Members ofreligious institutescommonly use their institute's initials as a suffix. For example, aFranciscanfriaruses the post-nominal initialsOFM,derived from the order's name inLatin,Ordo Fratrum Minorum(Order of Friars Minor). Equally, aViatorianpriestuses the suffix "CSV" from the name of his religious institute,Clerici Santi Viatori(Clerics of Saint Viator). These initials are not considered by members of religious institutes as an equivalent to academic or honorary post-nominial initials, but rather as a sign of membership in a particular religious lineage.

Ordering

See also:Commonwealth Realms orders and decorations

In someEnglish-speakingcountries, the arrangement of post-nominal letters is governed by rules of precedence, and this list is sometimes called the "Order of Wear" (for the wearing of medals).

Generational titles

For a more global view of generational naming, seePatronymic.

See also:Namesake

Generational suffixes are used to distinguish persons who share the same name within a family. A generational suffix can be used informally (for disambiguation purposes or as nicknames) and is often incorporated in legal documents.

United States

In the United States the most common name suffixes areseniorandjunior,which are abbreviated asSr.andJr.with initial capital letters, with or without preceding commas. In Britain these are rarer, but when they are used the abbreviations areSnrandJnr,respectively. The use of these social terms is governed by etiquette but not enshrined in law. According toThe Emily Post Institute,an authority on etiquette, the termJr.can be correctly used only if a male child's first, middle, and last names are identical to his father's (current) names. When a male child has the same name as his grandfather, uncle or male cousin, but not his father, he can use theIIsuffix, which is pronounced "the second".(In rare cases, theIIsuffix may be used for a son, e.g. former American presidentBarack Hussein Obama IIand his father,Barack Hussein Obama Sr.The example of Obama Sr., born Baraka Obama, also shows that suffixes are based on the father's current legal name and not necessarily their birth name.) When the suffixes are spelled out in full, they are not capitalized. Social name suffixes are far more frequently applied to men than to women.A child with a name that varies from a parent's name in middle name only may also be informally known as Jr. (e. g.Francis Wayne Sinatra,son ofFrancis Albert Sinatra), and his father may be known informally as Sr. (e. g.,Paul John Teutuland his son,Paul Michael Teutul). Roman numeral suffixes can be used to name a child after another family member like an uncle, cousin, or ancestor (including grandfather or great-grandfather). For example,Quentin Roosevelt IIwas named for his late uncle,Quentin I.Similarly, a grandson ofHenry Ford Iwas namedHenry II(the name again skipped a generation with the birth of Henry II's grandson, Henry Ford III).

Historically, when child mortality was high, a child could be named for its deceased sibling (anecronym),with or without a suffix (such was the case ofSalvador Dalí). There is at least one known case of multiple siblings having the same name in modern times—that ofGeorge Foreman's five sons, including eldest George Jr. and youngest George VI.

The suffixIIIis used after eitherJr.orIIand, like subsequent numeric suffixes, does not need to be restricted to one family line. For example, if Randall and Patrick Dudley are brothers and if Randall has a son before Patrick, he may call his sonPatrick II.If Patrick now has a son, his son isPatrick Jr.(orPatrick III;alternatively,Patrick IIif Randall did not have a son named Patrick II). As time passes, theIIIsuffix goes to the son of either Patrick Jr. or Patrick II, whoever is first to have a son named Patrick. This is one way it is possible and correct for a Junior to father a IV. Another example involves PresidentUlysses S. Grantand his sonsFrederick,Ulysses Jr.,andJesse.When Frederick's sonUlysseswas born in 1881, Ulysses Jr. did not yet have a son named after himself. Therefore, Frederick's son was Ulysses III. Ulysses Jr.'s son, born afterwards in 1893, wasUlysses IV.Jesse's sonChapmanwas the father of Ulysses V, as neither Ulysses III nor Ulysses IV had sons named for themselves.

There is no hard-and-fast rule over what happens to suffixes when the most senior of the name dies. Etiquette expert and humoristJudith Martin,for example, believes they should all move up(asSr.and subsequent suffixes can be redistributed), but most agree that this is up to the individual families.

There are instances of daughters being named after their mothers and also using the suffixJr.(such asAnna Eleanor Roosevelt Jr.,Winifred Sackville Stoner Jr.,and Carolina Herrera Jr.) or after their grandmothers or aunts with the suffixII,but this is not common. Usually, the namesake is given a different middle name and so would not need a suffix for differentiation. Furthermore, once the woman marries, she would most commonly take the surname of her husband and thus do away with the generational suffix. The titleJr.is sometimes used in legal documents, particularly those pertaining to wills and estates, to distinguish among female family members of the same name.

A wife who uses the titleMrs.often would also use her husband's full name, including the suffix. In less formal situations, the suffix may be omitted: Mrs. Lon Chaney Jr. on a wedding invitation but Mrs. L. Chaney or simply Shannon Chaney for a friendly note. Widows are conventionally entitled to retain their late husband's full names and suffixes, but divorcées do not continue to style themselves with a former husband's full name and suffix even if they retain the surname.

Juniors sometimes go by their first initials and "J" for Jr. regardless of middle initial. Examples includeAmerican footballplayers Terrell Ray Ward Jr. (who goes byT. J. Ward) and Erick R. Manuel Jr., who is better known asEJ Manuel.

FormerMajor League BaseballplayerB. J. Upton,whose real name is Melvin Emanuel Upton Jr., is called B. J. due to his father's nickname being "Bossman"; B. J. stands for "Bossman Junior".

Common nicknames for a junior or II include "Chip" (as in "chip off the old block" ); e.g., PresidentJames Earl Carter Jr.'s second son James Earl Carter III goes by "Chip".Another is "Bud" (predominantly in the American South); e.g.,Marlon Brando Jr.'s childhood nickname was "Bud". Another alternative is "Skip";e.g.,Harry "Skip" Caray Jr.andHarry Christopher "Chip" Caray III,or "Skip" may imply that the name skips a generation. Common nicknames for a III are "Trip(p)","Trace ", and"Trey"which denote that the name carrier is the third person to carry the name. Notable examples includeGreen DaydrummerTré Cool(Frank Edwin Wright III),South Parkco-creatorTrey Parker(Randolph Severn Parker III), and Trey Smith (Willard Carroll Smith III), elder son of actorWill Smith(Willard Carroll Smith Jr).

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the suffixes "Snr" and "Jnr" are rare, and not usually considered part of a person's name as such. Ordinal suffixes such as "III" are generally reserved for monarchs; however, theGeneral Register Officehas stated that, whereas it would normally reject a string of symbols or letters that "has no intrinsic sense of being a name" when registering a child, a suffix such as "III" would be accepted.Those who inherit a title of nobility do not use ordinal suffixes, but are distinguished from any ancestors with the same name by their position in the order of succession; for exampleArthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington,is thus distinguished from his father,Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

Other European countries

InFrench,the designations for a father and son with the same name arepère(father) andfils(son), an example beingAlexandre DumaspèreandAlexandre Dumasfils.Le jeune(the young) may be used to distinguish between brothers.

InPortuguese,common designations areJúnior(junior),Filho(son),Neto(grandson),Bisneto(great-grandson), andSobrinho(nephew).

InDutch,"sr." and "jr." are used socially rather than legally, but the system is not extended to "III" and beyond. Instead, Piet de Vries jr. will become Piet de Vries sr. upon the death of his father if there is a grandson also named Piet to take on the junior title. Otherwise the suffix falls away.

InSwedish,theden äldre(the elder) andden yngre(the younger), abbreviatedd.ä.andd.y.respectively, are sometimes used to distinguish two people with the same name, often but not necessarily, father and son.An example isGösta Ekman d.ä.,actor and grandfather of actorGösta Ekman d.y.,cf.Pliny the ElderandPliny the Youngerwhich in Swedish arePlinius den äldreandPlinius den yngre.

InIrish,óg(young), sometimes anglicised as "oge", may be used to distinguish two related people who might otherwisehave the same name.The suffixachis used to mean 'of or relating to' a noun or an adjective e.g.CaomhánachorLaighneach.

See also

• Post-nominal letters
• List of post-nominal letters
• List of family name affixes(surname suffixes and prefixes)