# Esquire after a name **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968 "2003-04-02T15:15:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/1 "2003-04-02T15:15:05Z")
Was does that mean exactly? ie John Smith Esq. This is one of those " I know I should know this but I don’t " questions. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/2 "2003-04-02T15:21:51Z")
It’s usually used to indicate that John Smith is a lawyer. Something of an affectation. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/3 "2003-04-02T15:23:49Z")
Esq. is short for “Esquire”. It used to be a formal title of the gentry in Britain, but evovled into a general form of address. Use it if you’re writing letters to attorneys, the British, or Bugs Bunny. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/4 "2003-04-02T15:47:34Z")
A friend of mine once got a letter with Esq. after his name and when he asked someone what it ment he got the answer “That’s the proper way to address a gentleman or someone who thinks he is one”. ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/5 "2003-04-02T15:53:39Z")
A Staff Report by **Diane** on [the uses and formalities of “esquire”](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mesquire.html). Over here in university in England, it’s often used just to indicate someone who’s completed their degree. And you never sign anything Esquire (unless you’re name is Bill S. Preston); people address you as Esq. ---
**Author:** ![markhlewis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@markhlewis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markhlewis)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/6 "2003-07-26T20:03:20Z")
The term “Esquire” can be of many terms. But mostly from the “old english testimonial”. Esquire is ment to be a formal hello from other nobles in that time. However, if anyone posesses that nobleness., then they shall receive that that title. Mark. Esq. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/7 "2003-07-26T20:18:15Z")
> [@](#): > > At the present time the following classes are recognized as esquires on occasions of ceremony or for legal purposes:?(i) All sons of peers and lords of parliament during their fathers? lives, and the younger sons of such peers, &c., after their fathers? deaths; the eldest sons of peers? younger sons, and their eldest sons for ever. (2) Noblemen of all other nations. (3) The eldest sons of baronets and knights. (4) Persons bearing arms and the title of esquire by letters patent. (5) Esquires of the Bath and their eldest sons. (6) Barristers-at-law. (7) Justices of the peace and mayors while in commission or office. (8) The holders of any superior office under the crown. (9) Persons styled esquires by the sovereign in their patents, commissions or appointments.? (to) Attorneys in colonies where the functions of counsel and attorney are united (in England solicitors are ? gentlemen,? not ? esquires ?). > > In practice, however, the title of esquire, now to all intents and purposes meaningless, is given to any one who ?can bear the port, charge and countenance of a gentleman.? The word has followed the same course as that of ? gentleman ? (q.v.), and for very similar reasons. It is still not customary in Great Britain to address e.g. a well-to-do person engaged in trade as esquire at his shop; it would be offensive not to do so at his private residence. In America, on the other hand, the use of the word ? esquire ? is practically obsolete, ? Mr ? (? Mister ? or Master,? at one time the title special to a ?gentleman?) being the general form of address. [http://77.1911encyclopedia.org/E/ES/ESQUIRE.htm](http://77.1911encyclopedia.org/E/ES/ESQUIRE.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/8 "2003-07-26T20:43:52Z")
So, can female attorneys use the “esquire” appellation? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/9 "2003-07-26T21:22:07Z")
I’ve known some that did. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/10 "2003-07-26T21:44:54Z")
I put “Esquire” on my tax returns just for grins. Never had any trouble for it. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/11 "2003-07-27T14:26:40Z")
Today in the U.S. it is “properly” used to denote an attorney, but that’s a meaning we attorneys have adopted on our own and there is no regulation of the term. However, were someone to use it who is a law student or law-school graduate not yet licensed to practice, he might be disciplined for holding himself out as a lawyer (depending on the context and his audience). –Cliffy, Esq. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/12 "2003-07-27T18:34:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cliffy \* > \*\*Today in the U.S. it is “properly” used to denote an attorney, but that’s a meaning we attorneys have adopted on our own and _there is no regulation of the term_. However, were someone to use it who is a law student or law-school graduate not yet licensed to practice, he might be disciplined for holding himself out as a lawyer (depending on the context and his audience). > > –Cliffy, Esq. \*\* Right. In addressing a snail-mail letter to **Dewey Cheatem Undhow** , I would address the letter to either: > [@](#): > > Dewey Cheatem Undhow, Esq. > Undhow Law Firm > Constitutional Edifice Bldg., Suite 1008 > New York, NY 10000 or > [@](#): > > Dewey Cheatem Undhow > Attorney at Law > Constitutional Edifice Bldg., Suite 1008 > New York, NY 10000 (Using both the “Esq.” and the “Attorney at Law” is a solecism.) On the other hand, there’s nothing preventing any citizen, member of the bar or not, from using “Esq.” or from being addressed as such; it’s not a legal title. What would be illegal is in its use to misrepresent oneself as a member of the bar entitled to practice law for personal gain when one is not actually so entitled. As a former employee of a government agency which used non-lawyers to research legal questions, I was made very aware of the rules on this. We could look up what the law said, what case law was reported as relevant, what opinions state counsel had rendered on questions (in New York, advisory opinions from several state officials are a part of “the law” as it is read), and report this to the local officials that were our clientele. We could not, however, give legal advice – “The law says that you can/should do this:…” If such an opinion were required, we were forced to provide the results of the research to the agency’s counsel, who would write a memo saying what the local official ought to do. And of course, as a private individual not representing oneself as a lawyer, one may dispense free legal advice – which is usually worth about as much as it costs! ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/13 "2003-07-27T23:51:22Z")
Something I’ve been confused about: If you’re not licensed to practice in the state where you are located, can you claim to be a lawyer? Obviously you can’t practice law, but do you lose the right to call yourself a lawyer in a professional setting? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/esquire-after-a-name/165968/14 "2003-07-28T13:42:58Z")
No. Most jurisdictions require you to apply for a license in that jurisdiction if you are licensed elsewhere and plan to ply your trade in the new jurisdiction, but once you’re a lawyer you’re a lawyer everywhere – you just might be barred from _practicing_ in the new jurisdiction before you are admitted. –CLiffy