In the English language, an English honorific is a form of address indicating respect. These can be titles prefixing a person's name, e.g.: Miss, Ms, Mr, Sir, Mrs, Dr, Lady or Lord, or titles or positions that can appear as a form of address without the person's name, as in Mr President, General, Captain, Father, Doctor or Earl.
There are many forms of honorifics that are used when one addresses the members of the nobility, clergy, or royalty, mostly in countries that are monarchies. These include "Your Majesty", "Your Royal Highness" or simply "Your Highness", which are used to address certain members of royalty, or "My lord/lady" to address a peer other than a Duke, who is referred to as "Your Grace".
Some honorifics distinguish the sex of the person being referred to. Some titles of nobility and professional honorifics, such as the traditionally male-only Doctor or General, do not have gender-specific versions; women take the same form of the title as men.
Academic and professional titles
Dr: (/ˈdɒktər/) (abbreviation for Doctor) for the holder of a doctoral degree (e.g. PhD, or MD in many countries) and for medical practitioners, dentists and veterinary surgeons (including as a courtesy title in countries where these professionals do not normally hold doctoral degrees), although in some countries it is normal to address surgeons as "Mr", "Ms", etc. The informal abbreviation "doc" (/dɒk/) is sometimes used. UK citizens who hold doctoral degrees or are registered medical practitioners may have the title "Doctor" recorded in their passports.
Professor: (/prəˈfɛsər/) (informally abbreviated to "prof" (/prɒf/)) for a person who holds the academic rank of professor in a university or other institution. In the UK this is a senior academic position and the title is always used in preference to "Dr", while in the US it refers to tenured or tenure-track academic staff and the title "Dr" is often preferred. Professors may have their title recorded in UK passports.
QC: postnominally in written addresses for a judge or barrister who has been made a Queen's Counsel (King's Counsel (KC) during the reign of a king). QCs may have this title recorded in UK passports.
Eur Ing: for engineers registered as European Engineers with the European Federation of National Engineering Associations. European engineers may have this title recorded in UK passports.
Chancellor: for the chancellor of a university.
Vice-Chancellor: for the vice-chancellor of a university.At the University of Cambridge, "The Right Worshipful the Vice-Chancellor" is used formally.
At the University of Oxford, "The Reverend the Vice-Chancellor" is used formally and the salutation is "Dear Mr Vice-Chancellor" rather than "Dear Vice-Chancellor".
Principal, President, Master, Warden, Dean, Regent, Rector, Provost, Director, or Chief Executive: as appropriate for heads of colleges at the universities of Cambridge, Durham, London and Oxford, heads of the constituent universities of the National University of Ireland, and the head of Trinity College Dublin.Note titles sometimes double up, e.g "Vice-Chancellor and Warden" at Durham University or "Provost and President" at University College London
His Holiness (abbreviation HH), oral address Your Holiness, or Holy Father – the Pope and the Pope Emeritus, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Patriarch of Peć and the Serbs, Catholicos of All Armenians, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Malankara Orthodox Catholicos and some other Christian Patriarchs.
His All Holiness (abbreviation HAH), oral address Your All Holiness – the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
His Beatitude or The Most Blessed, oral address Your Beatitude – Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic patriarchs, Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych.
His Excellency (abbreviation HE), salutation Most Reverend Excellency or Your Excellency – Latin patriarchs and Papal nuncios.
His Most Eminent Highness (abbreviation HMEH), oral address Your Most Eminent Highness – The Prince and Grand Master of Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
His Eminence (abbreviation HE), oral address Your Eminence – Roman Catholic cardinals and Eastern Orthodox metropolitans and archbishops who are not the First Hierarch of an autocephalous church.
Most Reverend Eminence – Roman Catholic cardinals (not used in English-speaking countries).
The Most Reverend (abbreviation The Most Rev or The Most Revd) Eastern Orthodox metropolitans and archbishops who are not the First Hierarch of an autocephalous church, Roman Catholic archbishops and bishops in Ireland, and the US, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America, and Marthoma Metropolitans
His Grace, oral address Your Grace – Roman Catholic archbishops in Commonwealth countries, and Marthoma Metropolitans
His Grace or The Right Reverend (abbreviation The Rt Rev or The Rt Revd), oral address Your Grace – Eastern Orthodox bishops.
His Lordship or The Right Reverend (abbreviation The Rt Rev), oral address My Lord – Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in Commonwealth countries.
The Reverend: (abbreviation "The Rev" or "The Revd") used generally for members of the Christian clergy regardless of affiliation, but especially in Catholic and Protestant denominations. Unlike 'Father' (see below) may be applied to both priests and deacons.
Except in the US, "The Reverend" is used either with first name and surname or with a second title and surname, e.g. "The Revd James Smith" or "The Revd Fr Smith", but not "The Revd Smith".
Fr: (Father) for priests in Catholic and Eastern Christianity, as well as some Anglican or Episcopalian groups. Unlike 'Reverend' (outside of the US), may be used with either first name, surname or both.
Pr: (Pastor) used generally for members of the Christian clergy regardless of affiliation, but especially in Protestant denominations. Equivalent to 'Reverend' (see above).
Br: (Brother) for men generally in some religious organizations; in the Catholic Church and Eastern churches, for male members of religious orders or communities, who are not Priests.
Sr: (Sister) Nun or other religious sister in the Catholic Church; for women generally in some religious organizations, such as the Mormons. Sometimes informally abbreviated as 'Sis'.
Elder: Elder used generally for male missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and for members of the adult leadership known as the general authorities. Although most all male adults of the LDS church are Elders, the title is reserved for the prior mentioned groups. Elder is also used as a title for members of a ruling church body in a Presbyterian polity. They may be either appointed by a more powerful body like a session or elected by the congregation, but both are ordained for the purpose of governing a church.
Rabbi: (Rabbi) In Judaism, a rabbi /ˈræbaɪ/ is an ordained religious officiant or a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רַבִּי rabi [ˈʁäbi], meaning "My Master" (irregular plural רבנים rabanim [ʁäbäˈnim]), which is the way a student would address a master of Torah. The word "master" רב rav [ˈʁäv] literally means "great one".
Imam: for Islamic clergymen, specially the ones who lead prayers and deliver sermons. Sometimes "sheikh" is also used to signify the leadership role of a clergyman in the community in addition to their religious ceremony tasks.
Sayyid: males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and his son-in-law Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib).
Sharif: used for descendants of Hasan.
Haji (or Hajji) (/ˈhadʒiː/): used by Muslims who have completed the hajj pilgrimage.
English honorifics Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
