# When and why did "Esquire" become synonymous with "lawyer", at least in the United States? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445 "2022-08-27T19:26:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/1 "2022-08-27T19:26:31Z")
One can’t help but notice this. It seems that Esq. has become the standard postnominal for practicing attorneys, used on door shingles, letterheads, and business cards. There’s an obvious practicality there, since “Esq” is much shorter than “Attorney at Law”, leaving more room on the business card and so on. But how did this happen? It seems to me to have been a recent development, perhaps only with in the last 35 years or so. Years prior to that, I would sometimes sign myself “Esquire” as a joke, calling back to its earlier usage as being applicable to anyone who could reasonably claim the status of a gentleman. According to the older, mostly British custom, it applied to any adult male of the untitled gentry, as well as anyone who had achieved a certain level of educational attainment but wasn’t entitled to any other postnominal. Of course, I wasn’t being serious about it. Among other things, custom dictated that you didn’t call yourself an Esquire; for example, you didn’t put it on your stationery or sign your letters that way. But when people wrote to you, they would put Esquire in the address, following your name. But back to lawyers. I’m pretty sure the word Esquire wasn’t uttered once during the entire run of _Perry Mason_, from the late 1950s into the 1960s. For that matter, I think the same can also be said for _L.A. Law_ in the 1980s. But now every attorney’s an Esquire. I’ve even read in Findlaw that a few newly graduated JDs have been disciplined for using “Esq.” prior to passing the bar. (P.S. I may have asked this here many years ago, but if there’s an earlier thread I can’t find it now.) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/2 "2022-08-27T19:32:46Z")
Does this help? [https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/esquire#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20esquire,the%20lawyer%20in%20written%20form](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/esquire#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20esquire,the%20lawyer%20in%20written%20form). In the United States, esquire (often shortened to Esq.) is a [title](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/title) of courtesy, given to a [lawyer](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/lawyer) and commonly appended to his/her surname ([e.g.](https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/eg_0), John Smith, Esq. or John Smith, Esquire) when addressing the lawyer in written form. Note that it is traditionally considered a [solecism](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solecism) to append Esq. or Esquire to one’s own name. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/3 "2022-08-27T19:58:56Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > It seems to me to have been a recent development, perhaps only with in the last 35 years or so. I think it dates back much further than 35 years, but can’t find a cite to that effect. Closest I’ve found is this: > [@](#): > > A few years ago, an ethics committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York considered the ancient origins of esquire in an effort to interpret its modern usage by lawyers. > > In Opinion 1995-14 (1995), the committee traced the origins of esquire to the Middle Ages, when it was a title conferred on candidates for knighthood in England. Later, the term was extended to other mid-level dignitaries, including sheriffs, sergeants, justices of the peace and “barristers at law.” > > In the United States, esquire over time came to refer “commonly and exclusively” to lawyers, stated the opinion, but how that happened is a mystery. The only certainty, the committee stated, is that “based on common usage it is fair to state that if the title appears after a person’s name, that person may be presumed to be a lawyer.” The quotation is from an ABA ethics opinion: > **[Tussle Over Titles - Magazine - ABA Journal](https://web.archive.org/web/20110530134510/http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/tussle_over_titles/)** > > Ethics Opinions Wrangle With Terms Lawyers Use to Identify Themselves A few years ago, an ethics committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York considered the ancient origins of esquire in an effort to interpret its modern usage by... ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/4 "2022-08-27T20:06:34Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > I think it dates back much further than 35 years, but can’t find a cite to that effect. Closest I’ve found is this: Here’s a Google Ngram Viewer chart of the words “esquire” and “lawyer” being used together. You can see that, while there was a peak which began around 1980, and topped out around 2000, the two words were fairly consistently used together throughout the 19th and 20th century. > **[Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=lawyer%2Besquire&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28lawyer%20%2B%20esquire%29%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2C(lawyer%20%2B%20esquire)%3B%2Cc0)** > > Google Books Ngram Viewer ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/5 "2022-08-27T20:12:32Z")
Interesting. Thanks! (Lawyers in Canada currently don’t use “Esquire” at all, probably because of the Q.C. as a more preferred postnominal. I have seen “Esquire” used in some older case reports.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/6 "2022-08-27T20:15:13Z")
Also, I found this: a scholarly paper from 1978, entitled “An Historical View of the Term Esquire as Used by Modern Women Attorneys.” From pages 3 and 4 of the paper: > [@](#): > > In its abbreviated form Esquire is, in modern English correspondence, > used as a courtesy after a man’s last name. It is almost > as widely used as is Mister, a term with which it is almost identical > in certain shadings of their meanings.’ In America such a general > usage would be considered an affectation hinting in some vague > way at social elitism, but there are narrower uses which took shape > in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Early in the seventeenth > century the rank of gentleman-an official status-was bestowed > so generously that the degree of esquire was given, perforce, > the role of maintaining differences when differences were disappearing- > of representing a superior range of gentleman. By the > late eighteenth century the distinctions were defined and refined: > There were esquires by inheritance, esquires by royal letterspatent, > esquires by prescription, and, finally, those by office or by > “reputation.” What applied to England in the eighteenth century > also, for most of that century, applied to America. The altered > circumstances of post-Revolutionary America eliminated as far as > she was concerned the relevance of three of the categories of esquire. > There being no crown, no peerage, no lords of parliament, > no chivalry, no hereditary ranks or degrees, none of the conditions > remained to allow for the presence of esquires except the offices > that made some by “reputation.” This was not a vaguely defined > category. From the sixteenth century on justices of the peace > (while in commission) and others holding offices of trust under the > crown were considered to hold the rank of esquire. Subsequently, > more precise definition included officers of the King’s Courts, > counsellors-at-law, holders of any superior office under the crown, > barristers-at-law (but not solicitors), and, in those colonies where > the roles of barrister and solicitor were combined, attorneys. It is > thus from the common legal heritage of the United States and > England that the tradition derives of describing certain officials as > esquires. The perseverance of this tradition, becoming as it has a > kind of certificate of professional identity, is a most curious phenomenon > in a country philosophically committed to levelling and > constitutionally opposed to titular distinctions that harken to an > hereditary caste system. And, on page 9: > [@](#): > > Much later it described a functionless formal > status, then served as an umbrella term for the holders of a > wide variety of offices. In modern times, as an appendage to > names, it has become an honorific-in England for virtually every > man and in America for the members of a particular profession. Link is here; it leads to a PDF of the article. [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjzyu6e6ef5AhVWk4kEHX4xAzIQFnoECDEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearchrepository.wvu.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D2754%26context%3Dwvlr&usg=AOvVaw2M5i5SsBAbhtpLXOCD-hor](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjzyu6e6ef5AhVWk4kEHX4xAzIQFnoECDEQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearchrepository.wvu.edu%2Fcgi%2Fviewcontent.cgi%3Farticle%3D2754%26context%3Dwvlr&usg=AOvVaw2M5i5SsBAbhtpLXOCD-hor) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/7 "2022-08-27T20:19:10Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > (Lawyers in Canada currently don’t use “Esquire” at all, probably because of the Q.C. as a more preferred postnominal. I have seen “Esquire” used in some older case reports.) In my town, lawyers advertise with “P.A.” after their names. I presume it stands for “Professional Attorney”. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/8 "2022-08-27T20:21:40Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > It seems that Esq. has become the standard postnominal for practicing attorneys, **used on door shingles, letterheads, and business cards**. Really? Applying it to yourself seems like a _faux pas_, but I’m British… > [@DrDeth](#): > > Note that it is traditionally considered a [solecism](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solecism) to append Esq. or Esquire to one’s own name. Exactly. To my sensibilities, it would be like calling yourself “The Honorable Mr Smith”. Or in Japanese referring to yourself as Smith-san. In the U.K., it would be a standard way to refer to a someone (any adult male) you are addressing in a formal letter, but not yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/9 "2022-08-27T20:23:32Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Here’s a Google Ngram Viewer chart Sidebar: How do you do that? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/10 "2022-08-27T20:24:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Also, I found this: a scholarly paper from 1978, entitled “An Historical View of the Term Esquire as Used by Modern Women Attorneys.” Fascinating. thanks! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/11 "2022-08-27T20:24:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Sidebar: How do you do that? Use as your search term “[word1]+[word2]” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/12 "2022-08-27T20:24:36Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Really? Applying it to yourself seems like a _faux pas_, but I’m a Brit… As I understand it, you put “John Smith, P.A.” on your stationery. But you may consider yourself insulted if people fail to address you as “John Smith, Esq.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/13 "2022-08-27T20:25:05Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Really? Applying it to yourself seems like a _faux pas_, but I’m British… It seems to be a particular thing for American attorneys. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/14 "2022-08-27T20:28:16Z")
How about female American attorneys? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/15 "2022-08-27T20:50:43Z")
That doesn’t help; you’ve merely described the current usage. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/16 "2022-08-27T20:56:48Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > How about female American attorneys? From 1989 to 1995 I worked at a US college with a fair number of students from Ireland. One day I was in the elevator with a group of people who noted that a poster for a talk by a “Mary Smith Esq” was graffitied with “Ha ha are you a man??” Someone said that it must have been done by an Irish student unfamiliar with the US convention of calling attorneys Esq, whether male or female. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/17 "2022-08-27T20:56:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > You can see that, while there was a peak which began around 1980, and topped out around 2000, the two words were fairly consistently used together throughout the 19th and 20th century. To be fair about it–and I should have acknowledged this–according to the earlier, more generalized usage customs with regard to the title, most if not all attorneys/barristers/solicitors could reasonably claim the title, as others of the same background, but they didn’t have the exclusive customary right to it as they do now. It seems odd that American lawyers would adopt the title. This is the USA after all, where even in colonial times John Adams made his wife remove their coat of arms from the family carriage as too royalist. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/18 "2022-08-27T20:59:06Z")
Also, just as some more pre-1980s evidence, here’s a copy of a letter, written by a member of the Harvard Law School, from 1930, to Henry Wise, a lawyer who practiced in the Boston area. You can see that it is addressed to “Henry Wise, Esq.” [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-7a5g8U8AAp-Ii?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-7a5g8U8AAp-Ii?format=jpg&name=4096x4096) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/19 "2022-08-27T20:59:47Z")
I checked the first edition of _Black’s Law Dictionary_ from 1891, and the second from 1910 (both available on Internet Archive) and both had the word “esquire” but did not have any mention of it being used by lawyers. That may suggest that it wasn’t a common usage at the turn of the 19th/20th century? (The 3rd ed. wasn’t available on the Internet Archive, so I couldn’t check it.) ETA: building on @Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus 's comment, it may have been commonly used for professionals generally, but not specifically for lawyers yet, so might not have shown up in the Law Dictionary? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445/20 "2022-08-27T21:04:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Riemann](#): > > > > Really? Applying it to yourself seems like a _faux pas_, but I’m British… > > It seems to be a particular thing for American attorneys. I’m sure we had this conversation years ago, but it is actually used more consistently by women who are lawyers. I believe I became popular because it would help avoid awkward situations in which someone assumed that a woman in the room wasn’t a lawyer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-esquire-become-synonymous-with-lawyer-at-least-in-the-united-states/970445.md?page=2)