List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom)


This is a list of post-nominal letters used in the United Kingdom after a person's name in order to indicate their positions, qualifications, memberships, or other status. There are various established orders for giving these, e.g. from the Ministry of Justice, Debrett's and A & C Black's Titles and Forms of Address, which are generally in close agreement; this order is followed in the list.

Baronet or Esquire

RankPost-nominal
BaronetBt or Bart
Knight BachelorKt
EsquireEsq

Orders and decorations

When listing the honours and awards enjoyed by any person it is not customary to include the Order of St John, as this is a Royal Order of Chivalry and not a State Order, and so confers no precedence. The statutes of the order state The letters specified... may be used... but admission or promotion to any Grade of the Order... shall not confer any rank, style, title, dignity, appellation or social precedence whatsoever.
The Grades of the Order of St John are:
Grade IBailiffs or Dames Grand CrossGCStJ
Grade IIKnights or Dames of Justice or GraceKStJ or DStJ
Grade III ChaplainsChStJ
Grade III Commanders CStJ
Grade IVOfficers OStJ
Grade VMember
Serving Brothers or Serving Sisters 		MStJ
SBStJ or SSStJ
Grade VIEsquiresEsqStJ

Appointments

University degrees and academic qualifications

These are usually given in ascending order, and may be followed by an abbreviation denoting the awarding Institute.
Note 1: Use of Cantuar for Kent is rare and risks confusion with both Lambeth degrees and the University of Canterbury, NZ. The Latin name for Kent is Cantium which would give Cant ; the University of Kent was originally the University of Kent at Canterbury.
Note 2: Awarded to undergraduates who receive a BEng or MEng degree from a programme within the City and Guilds College-Imperial College London.

Religious institutes and medical qualifications

Religious institutes

Some examples are given here. See the list of Catholic religious institutes for a fuller listing of current Catholic orders.
Christian BrothersCFC
Oratory of Saint Philip NeriCong. Orat.
Canons RegularCR + Initials of specific Congregation e.g. CRIC
Marist BrothersFMS
De La Salle BrothersFSC
Missionary Society of Saint PaulMSP
Order of Friars MinorOFM
Order of Friars Minor CapuchinOFM Cap.
Conventual FranciscansOFM Conv.
Ordinariate of Our Lady of WalsinghamOLW
BenedictinesOSB
Order of Preachers OP, OPL
Society of the Sacred HeartRSCJ
SalesiansSDB
Society of Jesus SJ
Anglican FranciscansSSF or CSF, OSC, TSSF

Medical qualifications

According to Debrett's, these are placed directly after orders, decorations and medals. Unlike other degrees, medical qualifications are listed in descending order, doctorates first.
Doctor of MedicineDM; MD
Doctor of SurgeryDCh; DS
Doctor of Dental SurgeryDDS
Master of SurgeryMCh; MChir; MS; ChM
Master of Dental SurgeryMDS; MChD
Master of the Art of ObstetricsMAO
Master of Orthopaedic SurgeryMChOrth
Master of Clinical PsychologyMClinPsychol
Master of Clinical ScienceMClSc
Master of Community HealthMCommH
Master of MedicineMMed
Master of Medical ScienceMMedSci; MMS
Master of Public HealthMPH
Bachelor of MedicineBM; MB
Bachelor of Dental SurgeryBDS; BChD; BDentS
Bachelor of the Art of ObstetricsBAO
Bachelor of AcupunctureBAc
Bachelor of Applied ScienceBASc
Bachelor of Medical ScienceBMedSci
Bachelor of PharmacyBPharm
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of SurgeryMB BChir; MB ChB; MBBCh;
MB BS; BM BCh; BM BS; BM
Fellow in Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandFDSRCS
Fellow of the Royal College of AnaesthetistsFRCA
Fellow of the Royal College of Emergency MedicineFRCEM
Fellow of the College of ParamedicsFCPara
Fellow of the Royal College of NursingFRCN
Fellow of the Royal College of OphthalmologistsFRCOphth
Fellow of the Royal College of PhysiciansFRCP
Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child HealthFRCPCH
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of EdinburghFRCPEd
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowFRCP
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandFRCS
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of EdinburghFRCSEd
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of IrelandFRCSI
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowFRCSGlasg
Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and GynaecologistsFRCOG
Fellow of the Royal College of General PractitionersFRCGP
International Fellow of the Royal College of General PractitionersFRCGP
Fellow of the Royal College of Occupational TherapistsFRCOT
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of IrelandFRCPI
Fellow of the Royal College of PathologistsFRCPath
Fellow of the Royal College of PsychiatristsFRCPsych
Fellow of the Royal College of RadiologistsFRCR
Fellow in Dental Surgery Royal College of SurgeonsFDS RCS
Fellow in Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons of EdinburghFDS RCSEd
Fellow in Dental Surgery, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowFDS RCPS
Fellow of the Faculty of Intensive Care MedicineFFICM
Member of the Royal College of Emergency MedicineMRCEM
Member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandMFDS
Member of the Faculty of Dental Surgery, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowMFDS RCPS
Member of the Faculty of Intensive Care MedicineMFICM
Member of the Faculty of Public HealthMFPH
Member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical MedicineMFPM
Member of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive HealthcareMFSRH
Member of the Joint Dental Faculties, Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandMJDF
Member of the Royal College of AnaesthetistsMRCA
Full Member of the College of ParamedicsMCPara
Member of the Royal College of NursingMARCH
Member of the Royal College of OphthalmologistsMRCOphth
Member of the Royal College of PhysiciansMRCP
Member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child HealthMRCPCH
Member of the Royal College of Physicians of EdinburghMRCPEd
Member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowMRCP
Member of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United KingdomMRCP
Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and GynaecologistsMRCOG
Member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of GlasgowMRCS
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of IrelandMRCSI
Member of the Royal College of General PractitionersMRCGP
International Member of the Royal College of General PractitionersMRCGP
Member of the Royal College of Occupational TherapistsMRCOT
Member of the Royal College of PathologistsMRCPath
Member of the Royal College of Physicians of IrelandMRCPI
Member of the Royal College of PsychiatristsMRCPsych
Member of the Royal College of RadiologistsMRCR
Member of the Royal College of Speech and Language TherapistsMRCSLT
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of EnglandMRCS
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of EdinburghMRCSEd

Fellowship or membership of learned societies, academies or professional institutions

These are generally placed in the order learned societies first, then Royal academicians, then professional institutions. There are two schools of thought as to how these should be ordered within each category: A & C Black's Titles and Forms of Address states that "As a general rule, letters should be shown in the order of the foundation of the societies, etc." Contrary to this, Debrett's consider that within learned societies: "There is no recognised order for placing these letters. In practice, where one society is indisputably of greater importance than another the letters are usually placed in that order." Similarly, for professional institutions: "here is no recognised order for placing qualifications awarded by different bodies, a recipient usually places these letters on headed paper, business cards, etc, in order of importance to his particular profession."
There is no clear distinction between a learned society and a professional institute. With regard to Royal Academicians, Debrett's says: "Although Royal Academicians come second in this list, it is not suggested that they yield in precedence to fellows of learned societies. In practice, the two lists do not coincide."
Black's note that where a professional body or society has multiple grades of membership, only the highest is used except in professional correspondence, and that fellowships "election to which is a distinction" should be used on all correspondence.
In this table, all societies, institutions, etc. are listed alphabetically by substantive name, rather than attempting to establish an order of precedence.
Some post-nominals are protected as "Professions Regulated by Professional Bodies Incorporated by Royal Charter" under the European professional qualification directives. These are indicated with an asterisk.
Memberships and fellowships of the various medical Royal Colleges are listed post-nominally as medical qualifications rather than with professional bodies and learned societies.

Chartered and other professional statuses

Some bodies award Chartered and other professional statuses with separate designatory letters from those indicating membership. These letters are placed before the designatory letters for fellowship or membership of the awarding body, e.g. CPhys MInstP. Where chartered status is a membership level within an institute, this is shown under that institute's entry above, e.g. Chartered Architectural Technologists, MCIAT, or Chartered Tax Advisor, CTA.

Membership of the armed forces and civilian services

In the armed forces, two or more branches may have officers with the same or similar titles, such as "Captain," which is a rank in the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Marines. To differentiate between the branches, post-nominals such as "RN" are used. However, such post-nominals are not used for the higher positions, since the higher officers are differently-titled in each branch.
This is the last set of post-nominals given by the Ministry of Justice and Debrett's; it is not included by Black's.

Professional qualifications

Other awards

Awards other than Crown Honours are not normally listed except in the context of events related to the awarding body

Youth organisations

Member of the UK Youth ParliamentMYP
Deputy Member of the UK Youth ParliamentDMYP
Member of the Scottish Youth ParliamentMSYP
Youth CouncillorYC
Head Police CadetH/CDT