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Aname suffix in the WesternEnglish-language naming tradition, follows a person's surname (last name) and provides additional information about the person.Post-nominal letters indicate 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.

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Academic suffixes indicate the degree earned at acollege oruniversity. 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.

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);
• achurch or seminary, who may offer an honoraryDoctor of Divinity (DD) to outstanding ministers or teachers.

The styleEsq. orEsquire was 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.^[3]

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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 Analysts use the suffix CFA. Sommeliers (restaurant wine professionals) who have passed theMaster Sommelier exam use the MS suffix. Engineers that are certified as aProfessional Engineer in his or her state will use the suffix PE (PEng in Canada), Certified Professional Geologists use PG, Certified Professional Logisticians use CPL, andChartered Engineers use CEng. Likewise,Registered Architects sometimes 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 Archaeologists use the suffix RPA.

Project managers that have obtained certification asProject Management Professionals from theProject Management Institute may 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 Military will 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.

Members ofreligious institutes commonly use their institute's initials as a suffix. For example, aFranciscanfriar uses the post-nominal initialsOFM, derived from the order's name inLatin,Ordo Fratrum Minorum (Order of Friars Minor). Equally, aViatorianpriest uses 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.

In someEnglish-speaking countries, 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 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.

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In the United States the most common name suffixes aresenior andjunior, 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 areSnr andJnr, 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 theII suffix, which is pronounced "the second".^[4] (In rare cases, theII suffix may be used for a son, e.g. former American presidentBarack Hussein Obama II and 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.^[5] 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 Teutul and 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 II was named for his late uncle,Quentin I. Similarly, a grandson ofHenry Ford I was 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),^[6] 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 suffixIII is used after eitherJr. orII and, 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 II if Randall did not have a son named Patrick II). As time passes, theIII suffix 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. Grant and his sonsFrederick,Ulysses Jr., andJesse. When Frederick's sonUlysses was 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 sonChapman was 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^[7] (asSr. and subsequent suffixes can be redistributed), but most agree that this is up to the individual families.^[8]

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 put 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.^[5]

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

FormerMajor League Baseball playerB. 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".^[9]

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".^[10] 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 Day drummerTré Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III),South Park co-creatorTrey Parker (Randolph Severn Parker III), and Trey Smith (Willard Carroll Smith III), elder son of actorWill Smith (Willard Carroll Smith II).

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 Office has 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.^[11] 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.

InFrench, the designations for a father and son with the same name arepère (father) andfils (son), an example beingAlexandre Dumaspère andAlexandre 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,den 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.^[12] An example isGösta Ekman d.ä., actor and grandfather of actorGösta Ekman d.y., cf.Pliny the Elder andPliny the Younger which in Swedish arePlinius den äldre andPlinius den yngre.

InIrish,óg (young), sometimes anglicised as "oge", may be used to distinguish two related people who might otherwisehave the same name.^[13] The suffixach is used to mean 'of or relating to' a noun or an adjective e.g.Caomhánach orLaighneach.

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

• English suffixes
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