What ARE all these personal titles?

Factual Questions
1

British Airways has this great registration form that lets you choose from a vast list for your personal title.

My curiousity was piqued as to what some of the titles listed actually represent. Googling didn’t get me far, since I usually just found a reference to someone with the title (often in a foreign tongue) rather what it stood for. A lot of them seem to be Indian, which would make sense given the history involved. Can anyone help out with some translations/definitions?

The whole list is really, really long, so below are the un-obvious ones I want to figure out:

A V M, Admiraal, Alhaji, Canon,
Cik, Comte, Comtessa, Conte,
Datin, Dato, Datuk, Datuk Seri,
Dhr, Dipl Ing, Dott, Dott sa,
Dr Ing, Dra, En, Encik, Eur Ing,
Exma Sra, Exmo Sr, F O, Fru,
Graaf, Gravin, H E Dr, H H, H M,
H R H, Hajah, Haji, Hajim, Hra,
Ing, Ir, Jonkheer, Khun Ying,
Lcda, M L, M R, Mevrouw, Mlle,
Nti, Puan, Puan Sri, Rva, Sig na,
Sig ra, Sra, Srta, Tan Sri,
Tan Sri Dato, Tengku, Teuku,
Than Puying, Toh Puan, Tun.

2

Hey, you skipped my favorite, “High Chief”. Is this an elected role? Do I have to study and or be degreed? Can I self-appoint myself? What is the term, or can one hold this position for life?

3

Comte = Count/Earl (French)
Comtessa = Countess
Graaf = Count/earl (German)
Gravin = Countess
Mlle = Mademoiselle
HM = Her majesty
HRH = His/Her Royal Highness

4

All questions that can apply to Queen, King, …

5

Admiraal – Admiral of a Nederdeutsch-speaking country (the Netherlands, Flemish Belgium, South Africa, Plattdeutsch areas in Germany)

Canon – Diocesan official in an Anglican (and I think Catholic) church. The “Canon to the Ordinary” is the chief aide to the Bishop. Many dioceses have other canons with specific assignments, as in Canon for Evangelism. In a cathedral, the chief honcho, under the Bishop, is the Dean; the other official clergy assigned to the cathedral are Canons. Proper form of address is “The Rev. Canon John Jones” / “Dear Canon Jones”

Comte, Comtessa, Conte – Counts and Countesses in various European countries

Dipl Ing, Dr Ing, Ing – Credentialed professional engineer in several European countries. The abbreviation Dipl Ing stands for “Diplomate in Engineering” (a Diplomate being a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a professional program) A “Dr Ing” is a professional engineer with a doctorate. “Ing” should be obvious from the previous.

Graaf, Gravin – Dutch (and I think Flemish) Count and Countess

H H – His/Her Highness (of a prince or princess, probably not of a ruling line)

H M – His/Her Majesty (of a reigning monarch or queen consort)
H R H – His/Her Royal Highness (non-ruling member of a royal family)

Haji – Moslem person who has made the Pilgrimage to Mecca

Mevrouw – Dutch honorific for a woman, equivalent to Mrs. or Madame

Mlle – abbreviation for Mademoiselle, French for “Miss”

Sra, Srta – Señora and Señorita respectively, being Spanish for Mrs. and Miss

Tun – Malay honorific for a respected man, implying slightly more respect than Mr. but without carrying the connotation of his having been officially awarded a title

6

And, if I am not mistaken, Haji is for males, Hajim for females.

7

Jonkheer seems to be a Dutch title for men slightly below that of knighthood.

from http://www.winnem.com/siec/nsiecnews3.htm

Khun Ying and Than Puying are both Thai titles of respect for women though the Thai government website spells Than Phuying with an extra H.

from http://www.cabinet.thaigov.go.th/eng/d_Chula00.htm

-Lil

8

Dra = Doctora
Exma Sra, Exmo Sr = Excelentisima Señora, Excelentisimo Señor (most excellent madam, most excellent sir)
Lcda = Licenciada = “Licentiate” or female holder of academic degree similar to a Bachelor’s (There should also be Lcdo for a male)
Ing = Ingeniero/a = “Engineer” or holder of a professional degree in various fields (as Polycarp mentions)

All Spanish; I think they also apply in Portuguese

9

Datuk, Datuk Seri = Malay honorifics, often used for politicians. The equivalent of “The Honourable” and “The Right Honourable” in England and Australia

Ir = Insinyur, meaning Engineer in Malay / Indonesian. Indonesia’s Presdent Sukarno sometimes used this as a title.

Tun = shortening of “tuhan”, meaning sir or lord in Malay / Indonesian. For eg, God is sometimes called Tuhan.

Can someone do a condensed list of what is left?

10

Y’all rock! Here’s what’s left, as far as I can tell.

A V M, Alhaji, Cik,
Datin, Dato, Dhr, Dott, Dott sa,
En, Encik, F O, Fru,
H E Dr, Hra,
M L, M R, Nti, Puan,
Puan Sri, Rva, Sig na,
Sig ra, Tan Sri, Tan Sri Dato,
Tengku, Teuku, Toh Puan.

11

Dott = Dottoro, Italian for ‘Doctor’ (male)
Dott sa = Dottessa, Italian for ‘Doctor’ (female)
Dato, Datin = a Malaysian title originally bestowed on a tribal chief but now used by the rich (see here). Dato is the male form, Datin the female form.
En = Ensign (in the Royal Navy) (?)
F O = Flying Officer (in the Royal Air Force) (?)
M L, M R : These seem to be Thai noble titles, but I couldn’t find anything about them.
H E Dr. = His (or Her) Excellency Doctor (most likely applies to ambassadors who hold doctoral degrees)

The two military ranks are mostly assumptions because many other military ranks are on the form.

12

A V M = Air Vice Marshal (which is also on the list)
I’m less sure about En = Ensign because it’s not an officer rank, but there are enlisted ranks on the list as well. Maybe it’s an engineer thing. They’re also missing a lot of potential suffixes that people might want to include, such as Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (in languages that don’t include special prefixes for people that hold them). Or membership in societies such as the Order of Canada, or the Royal Society, or the Knights Templar.

13

“Lic” for Licenciado is on the form. I forgot that this was the abbreviation, not Lcdo.

14

Alhaji = variation on “haji,” i.e. one who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca
Sig na, Sig ra = Signorina and Signora, respectively: English equivalents are Miss and Mrs.

15

According to this page, the “Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM)” award from the government of Malaysia “carries the title of ‘Tan Sri’” - so this would dispose of both Tan Sri and Tan Sri Dato, given what Roches has already told us about Dato. It apparently means “Most Honourable Order of the Crown - Knight Commander.”

Okay, so now we’re down to

Cik, Encik, Fru, Hra, Nti, Puan,
Puan Sri, Rva, Tengku, Teuku, Toh Puan

and maybe En and F O

16

Oho! Apparently, Cik, Encik, and Puan are the Malaysian equivalents of Miss, Mr., and Mrs. Toh Puan and Puan Sri are also Malaysian titles, with a Toh Puan being the wife of a Tun and a Puan Sri being the wife of a Tan Sri.

17

Tengku is apparently yet ANOTHER Malaysian title, this one “meaning prince or princess. First invented for the children of the Bendahara Sultan of Johor, after he had ascended the throne in 1699. Used for senior princes in Johor, and lesser princes and higher commoner chiefs in Perak. The title is also used in Negri Sembilan for the male members of the family of the Yang di - Pertuan Besar.”

According to this page, “‘Teuku’ is a title for descendants of noble families from Aceh of Sumatra, Indonesia.”

Fru is the Danish equivalent of Mrs.

The only ones we’re left with now are Hra, Nti, and Rva, which seem fairly google-resistant, and confirmation on En and F O.

18

Alhaji and Haji are the same: a Muslim man who has made the Hajj pilgrimage (not to be confused with an Umrah pilgrimage, which is a shorter version of the Hajj pilgrimage that can be done any time in the year but that does not fulfill the obligation on a Muslim to perform Hajj if possible).

Also note that in the Hajj the pilgriims go to a number of places besides Mekkah (Mt. 'Arafat, Mina, etc.). The Umrah is done only in al-Haram ash-Sharif (the Holy Mosque in Mekkah wherein is the Ka’bah - meaning other places in the Mosque are used besides the area around the Ka’bah).

Haja is the feminine form of Haji.

I have never heard the title “Hajim” before. It is definitely not the feminine form of Haji.

WRS - Labbaik Allahumma labbaik. I still remember. :wink:

19

not so google resistant, with a little keyword creativity:

Nti - Finnish Ms.
Hra - Finnish Mr.
Rva (Rouva) - Finnish Mrs.

20

Nicely googled. The full forms for Nti and Hra would be “Neiti” & “Herra”.
Althought most finnish people would be sligthly amused if you were to use these titles. We like our communication as unofficial as possible. :slight_smile: