Pre-nominal letters

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, Eur Ing (European Engineer), Ir (Ingenieur) and Professor; whilst other common social titles are Mr., Master, The Honorable, Ms., Mrs. and Miss. Pre-nominal letters are generally social, but can be professional in nature.

Academic degrees

In some Continental European countries all academic degrees were traditionally pre-nominal. Examples of pre-nominal academic degrees, for instance in the German speaking countries include: Dipl.-Ing. (Engineer's Degree), Dipl.-Kfm. (Master's degree in management), "Dipl.-Phys." (Master's degree in physics), "Dr.-Ing." (German doctorate in engineering), "Ing." (Awarded by the Authorities of the Lander-Law called Ingenieur Gesetz), "Dr.med." (German M.D.) and "Mag." (Austrian Master's degree (Magister)) in all disciplines except engineering). Due 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 have held academic degrees before the Bologna process, may also use the pre-nominal academic degrees).

ee also

* Suffix
* Title