What jobs let you retain your title after you've moved on?

December 7, 2004 4:28 PM

Other than President, Military titles, and Dr. What jobs let you retain your title after you've stopped being employed as such? I don't mean being referred to as 'Former such and such'. I mean actually keeping the title as part of one's name or formal address.
posted by pieoverdone to society & culture (19 comments total)

Mrs.
posted by onlyconnect at 4:29 PM on December 7, 2004

Ambassador (Your Excellency, such a great honorific)
Judge
lots really

see Debrett's for a wealth of info.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:47 PM on December 7, 2004

I think you get to keep rev. (reverend) in England if you've been a Church of England minister.
posted by lemonpillows at 4:48 PM on December 7, 2004

Boat captain or skipper. Once a captain, forever a captain (in my mind anyway).

I think lawyers can use Esquire forever too.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 4:48 PM on December 7, 2004

You'll keep "Professor" as long as you retire from the job. Of course then you don't quit as much as you become "Professor Emeritus". Though I suppose it would be a little weird to call someone "professor" who quit the profession.
posted by ontic at 4:52 PM on December 7, 2004

Senator.

Well, in Canada anyway. But then again, they are appointed until their 75th birthday. So it's not like they have long to live after "stepping down." :-)
posted by carabiner at 5:16 PM on December 7, 2004

The "Esquire" (or J.D.) for lawyers and the "Dr." (or Ph.D or M.D.) for doctors aren't job titles--they signify that you've earned a degree and become part of a profession, usually by passing a test.
posted by equipoise at 5:17 PM on December 7, 2004

Around a half dozen times a year, someone in some public place gets really excited and calls me "coach." Then I have to struggle to mentally match the gangly high-schooler in front of me with the twelve year old I coached in Little League.

(I've never once gotten the name right).
posted by cadastral at 5:37 PM on December 7, 2004

Senator, Governor, President, Congressman ...
posted by nathan_teske at 6:00 PM on December 7, 2004

Good one, cadastral.

J.D., M.D., Ph.D are all academic awards, esquire is a title of veneration.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 6:06 PM on December 7, 2004

Coach.
posted by Doohickie at 7:21 PM on December 7, 2004

"The Honorable" stays with you all your life, if you ever earn it.
posted by crazy finger at 7:52 PM on December 7, 2004

Maestro
posted by saladin at 8:15 PM on December 7, 2004

felon.
posted by angry modem at 10:01 PM on December 7, 2004

Kentucky Colonel. "The general rule is the individual must be breathing."
posted by mono blanco at 10:14 PM on December 7, 2004

MeFite?
posted by Cranberry at 10:15 PM on December 7, 2004

Serious royalty get to keep titles. The Queen mother was still her majesty after her husband died and her daughter took the throne. Military titles are only kept above a certain rank in the UK, a quick websearch suggests this may be different in the US. The use of Dr for a medical doctor in the UK is an honorific which the individual rents from a medical college (at least I think its a college) on an annual basis. PhDs on the other hand earn their title as a result of satisfying the conditions of an accredited university as to the quality of their work and earn the title on a permanent basis. Professorships can work the same way but can also be linked to a specific chair so it is possible to be 'demoted' again if giving up the chair.
It is also worth noting that medical doctors cease to use their title once they are promoted to the level of consultant, becoming Mr again at that stage.
posted by biffa at 2:27 AM on December 8, 2004

biffa - in the UK it is surgeons who revert to Mr (or Miss) once they achieve membership of the surgeons' organisation (by passing their exams). Medical doctors stay Dr (or become Professor).

I'm told surgeons have this 'honour' because they used to be little more than travelling barbers who were handy with their knives... but then it was a surgeon's secretary who told me that....
posted by altolinguistic at 2:54 AM on December 8, 2004

My favorite is "Esquire". They better let you keep that one.
posted by pepcorn at 11:35 AM on December 8, 2004