Post-nominal letters
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.
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 the exception of the position of MP, etc., in the listing:[2][3][4] 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.
[9] The Oxford University Style Guide and the University of Nottingham Style Guide give the alternative ordering:[10][11] 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 a single item, and omits membership of the armed forces.
[13] Nottingham Trent, Oxford and Loughborough recommend degree abbreviations be given in mixed case without stops between the letters (e.g. BA, not B.A.
[16] However, advice on the precise ordering varies: In the United States, standard protocol is to list post-nominal letters in the following order:[18] 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.
[3] 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.
An alternative style is to give all higher education qualifications, starting from undergraduate, ordered by their level rather than their title.
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).
[12][20] Strictly speaking, both the Debrett's and Ministry of Justice lists only allow for the inclusion of degrees, not non-degree academic awards.
[26] Honorary degrees, if shown, can be indicated either by "Hon" before 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);[27] "Professor Stephen Hawking Hon.ScD, CH, CBE, FRS" (emphasis added).
[30] Where someone holds qualifications in multiple fields, they are normally given in the order: medicine, surgery (except for MRCS, which is considered a qualifying diploma), obstetrics, gynaecology and other specialities.
For example: In 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.
"[34] Earlier guidance that "Strictly speaking, they should be arranged according to date of foundation or incorporation of the societies concerned"[35] has now been removed.
