# Why does the British press use titles when referring to people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691 "2022-06-23T18:27:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/21 "2022-06-25T15:33:03Z")
Yes, regardless of the respectability of the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/22 "2022-06-25T15:36:30Z")
Is there _any_ newspaper or other media that only use titles for those they consider respectable? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/23 "2022-06-25T16:15:08Z")
Probably not. But I would have preferred that they make an exception for, I dunno, convicted serial killers. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/24 "2022-06-25T16:17:15Z")
I don’t think any newspaper editor wants to open _that_ can of worms ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/25 "2022-06-25T16:42:28Z")
I would have thought that he would be “Mr. the Maniac”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/26 "2022-06-25T17:28:43Z")
Isn’t “the” a middle name? Alexander the Great. Charles the Fat. Charlemagne tha God. They’re written backward like Asian names, so the Times refers to the last as Charlemagne and you just have to figure out which one from context. Although I would love to see the Times refer to Mr. God in its articles. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/27 "2022-06-26T08:35:45Z")
Not exactly what you’re thinking of, but for a long time, FAZ (one of Germany’s leading papers) would use titles for women but not men. So it would be Scholz, but Frau Merkel. They’re not doing this anymore, it’s now no titles for anybody. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/28 "2022-06-26T19:31:50Z")
Titled correspondents to the (London) Times invariably sign themselves as the place of which they are (e.g.) earls. A letter or email from the Earl of Derby would be signed off with ‘Derby’. I’m guessing he does this in other formal communications as well. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/29 "2022-06-27T16:11:20Z")
But bishops no longer sign with their Latin names when writing to the _Times_. Or at least they didn’t do so the other week when writing to condemn the government’s Rwanda asylum policy. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691/30 "2022-06-27T17:22:18Z")
In the US, at least, I’ve seen a change in naming conventions among the clergy in my lifetime. When I was a kid, if there was a priest named “John Smith”, he’d (probably) be “Father Smith”. Nowadays, he’d be “Father John”. (the exception would be if he was a member of a monastic order, in which case he would have always gone by first name, except that the first name would be one he assumed on joining the order, not his birth name) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-the-british-press-use-titles-when-referring-to-people/966691.md?page=1)