Mr, Miss, Ms, Mrs next to the name below the signature (2025)

Is it OK to write Mr ABC below the signature in a letter or end an email with Mr ABC?

Is it OK to write Miss/Mrs next to a woman's name below the signature in a letter or an email?

Thanks.

Yes, it is.

Under your signature, say Karen Upminster you could write KAREN UPMINSTER (Mrs) or (Miss) or (Ms).

In an email, of course, you don't sign your name, just type it. You can add one of the titles above if you wish.

Rover

Below my own signature I always write KEVIN ECCLES or K ECCLES (Mr).

(Not my real name.)

Rover

The main purpose of adding this to one's name below the signature is to guide the reader in addressing a reply properly.

For example, if one is named Robin, Leslie, or any of the other names that can belong to either men or women, one might add (Mr.) after one's name so that the recipient can write to "Mr. Robin Smith" rather than "Ms., Miss, or Mrs. Robin Smith" as the case may be.

The same would apply if one has a name that is generally used for the other sex. News correspondent Hank Phillipi Ryan (a woman) comes to mind, as does the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue."

This would also apply if the letter is signed with initials rather than a full name.

Another reason might be to call attention to a doctoral degree. Again, the reason is to permit a reader to address a reply properly to "Dr. Egmont" rather than "Mr. Egmont" - though a bit of pride might figure into it as well. In that case, though, I'd probably write "Egmont, Ph.D." under my name rather than "Dr. Egmont" or "Egmont (Dr.)."

In military correspondence, I think it's the practice to indicate one's rank before the name, though the format varies. Something along the lines of "Capt. Egmont," or "Egmont, Captain, USN" is expected. Here, it's not so much a case of guiding the reader in a reply as it is to clarify where the reader stands relative to the writer in the chain of command.

As for titles of nobility, religious titles, etc., etc. - I don't know!

Parla said:

I could swear I saw this same question in another recent thread. Maybe I've imagined it. In any event: I would never use an honorific with a signature. In my opinion, such titles are properly reserved for addresses to others.

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Yes, but this is not a case of using the honorific as part of the name:
...
...
Ms Karen Upminster << Not good.

It is, or used to be, common practice for women to close a letter as Karen and Rover have indicated:
...
...
Karen Upminster (Ms) << Good.

It is, or was, a courtesy to the recipient who then knows how to address the reply.

Parla said:

I could swear I saw this same question in another recent thread. Maybe I've imagined it. In any event: I would never use an honorific with a signature. In my opinion, such titles are properly reserved for addresses to others.

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They normally are, but a respondent is put at a tremendous disadvantage when receiving a message signed with initials or a name that is sexually ambiguous.

In business, I always found it a very helpful courtesy iof someone writing to me, in cases where sex wasn't obvious, would provide a clue so that a proper honorific could be used in a reply.

MuttQuad said:

. . . a respondent is put at a tremendous disadvantage when receiving a message signed with initials or a name that is sexually ambiguous.

In business, I always found it a very helpful courtesy if someone writing to me, in cases where sex wasn't obvious, would provide a clue so that a proper honorific could be used in a reply.

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For many years, in the rare instances when I've needed to address someone on business whose gender was for some reason unknown to me, I (and many of my colleagues, among whom this question has been discussed) have simply used the person's full name, e.g., "Dear Lee Smith:" or "Dear U.R. Smith:".

I sometimes receive email messages from people with, say, Chinese names where the gender is not obvious. I like the traditional way of indicating the title in brackets after the name.

Qichen Li (Ms)

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Traditionally, if the title was not included, it was assumed that the appropriate title was Mr. These days, we cannot make that assumption.

In the absence of a title provided, and I needed to write to this person, I tend to write

Dear Mr/Ms Li

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Parla (above) gives another way of getting around the difficulty.