# What does the prefix 'Mae.' mean in front of a name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495 "2013-08-06T14:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/1 "2013-08-06T14:15:22Z")
the company I work for uses an outsourcer in the Caribbean, and when I look at the names of the employees on their reports, a large number of them have the prefix ‘Ma.’ or ‘Mae.’ in front of their names. I don’t think it’s the actual name—it’s usually followed by a period, and there’s far too many for me to believe one company has that many people with the same first name. Anyone ever encountered this who knows what it means? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/2 "2013-08-06T14:40:51Z")
On the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, “mae” (pronounced roughly “MAH-ee”) means “dude” or “man” ("¡twanis, mae!" = “cool, man!”), but I doubt that’s the answer you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/3 "2013-08-06T16:07:54Z")
could it be an abbreviation for their job title? When I’ve worked with engineers in Mexico, they generally have “Ing. \<_name_\>” on correspondence and business cards. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/4 "2013-08-06T16:10:37Z")
Spanish-speaking Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean, Dutch-speaking Caribbean? Both actual answers and guesses will change depending on language. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/5 "2013-08-06T16:13:09Z")
I wondered if maybe it was “Madame” but apparently that is Mme. I did find someone on Yahoo Answers claiming that since so many people were named “Maria” in some countries, they abbreviate that name to Ma. and use their middle name for identification. I know that here at work, the Colombian fellows all use their middle names because all of their first names are Jose. ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/6 "2013-08-06T16:24:53Z")
Is it possible they are putting a degree in there? I’ve never seen it done that way - and certainly not capitalized that way, but they are both degrees that someone could have. Are there any Other degree like first names? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/7 "2013-08-06T18:00:56Z")
Could “Mae” stand for “Maestro”? That could indicate that someone has a Master’s Degree or whatever degree they have locally whose name means “Master”, even if it is not equivalent to a US Master’s Degree. I have heard of the practice of Bachelor’s degree holders in Latin America putting “Lic.” for “Licenciado” i.e. “Licensed” (presumably implying that they are qualified to be a schoolteacher, which is what the bachelor’s degree used to do in the US, but not really any more) in front of their name. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/8 "2013-08-06T18:05:32Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > could it be an abbreviation for their job title? When I’ve worked with engineers in Mexico, they generally have “Ing. \<_name_\>” on correspondence and business cards. My first guess if it was Spanish speaking Caribbean would be _Maestria_ (Master’s degree) or _maestro/a_ (teacher). However, I have never seen those titles abbreviated that way, and Spanish dictionaries don’t show it either. (Ing. for Ingeniero/a and Lic. for Licenciado/a on the other hand are standard.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/9 "2013-08-06T18:15:45Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > I wondered if maybe it was “Madame” but apparently that is Mme. > I did find someone on Yahoo Answers claiming that since so many people were named “Maria” in some countries, they abbreviate that name to Ma. and use their middle name for identification. I know that here at work, the Colombian fellows all use their middle names because all of their first names are Jose. When the character ª is available, the abbreviation of María is Mª; when it’s not, Ma. can be used. But the words after María are usually not “middle names”, that’s an English concept and not a Spanish one. I didn’t feel like explaining again, so searched for one of my previous explanations on the subject of [nombres compuestos](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14676744&postcount=3). ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/10 "2013-08-06T18:32:43Z")
They work in a call center, taking calls in English. They are located in Dominica and Granada though, so I’m guessing a lot of them also speak Spanish. I don’t think it’s a title—I’ve come across a lot of them with it in the middle of the name, like “Maria Mae. Rodriguez” (that’s not the actual name, but that’s the format some of these names are in). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-prefix-mae-mean-in-front-of-a-name/665495/11 "2013-08-06T19:18:53Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > They work in a call center, taking calls in English. They are located in Dominica and Granada though, so I’m guessing a lot of them also speak Spanish. > > I don’t think it’s a title—I’ve come across a lot of them with it in the middle of the name, like “Maria Mae. Rodriguez” (that’s not the actual name, but that’s the format some of these names are in). In that case Ma. should be Maria, although I’m not sure what Mae. would be. To nitpick, the Caribbean island is Grenada. Granada is a city in Nicaragua (and of course Spain). Both Dominica and Grenada are English-speaking.