The Canadian Style
http://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Institutional Links
-
Translation Bureau
Language Portal of Canada
-
TERMIUM Plus®
-
Chapters
- - Close Abbreviations
- Introduction to Abbreviations
- General guidelines and observations
- Periods
- Plurals
- Capital letters and hyphens
- Titles used with personal names
- Military abbreviations
- University degrees, professional designations, military decorations, honours, awards and memberships
- Geographical names
- Addresses: streets and buildings; points of the compass
- Latitude and longitude
- Parts of a book or document
- Latin terms
- Scientific and technical terms
- Corporate names
- Acronyms and initialisms
- Number and percentage symbols
- Ampersand
- Monetary units
- Months and days
- Time of day and elapsed time
- Time zones
- The International System of Units (SI)
- The imperial system
- Business terms, expressions and symbols
- + Hyphenation: Compounding and Word Division
- + Spelling
- + Capitalization
- + Numerical Expressions
- + Italics
- + Punctuation
- + Quotations and Quotation Marks
- + Reference Matter
- + Letters and Memorandums
- + Reports and Minutes
- + Usage
- + Plain Language
- + Elimination of Stereotyping in Written Communications
- + Geographical Names
- + Revision and Proofreading
- + French Typographical Rules
- - Close Abbreviations
Proactive Disclosure
Important notice
The Canadian Style has been archived and won’t be updated before it is permanently deleted.
For the most up-to-date content, please consult Writing Tips Plus, which combines content from Writing Tips and The Canadian Style. And don’t forget to update your bookmarks!
Search and Functionalities Area
1.06 Titles used with personal names
Use the following abbreviations for non-military titles preceding or following personal names:
- Dr.
- Esq.
- Hon.
- Jr.
- Mr.
- Mrs.
- Ms.
- Messrs.
- Mmes.
- Msgr.
- Prof.
- Rev.
- Rt. Hon.
- Sr.
- St.
Use Ms. when referring to a woman unless a preference for Mrs. has been indicated. Although not an abbreviation, Ms. is written with a period, by analogy with Mr. and Mrs. Note that Miss is not an abbreviation and does not take a period.
Do not use Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. or Esq. with any other abbreviated title or with an abbreviation denoting an academic degree or honour:
- Dr. Roberta Bondar or Roberta Bondar, MD
not
- Ms. or Dr. Roberta Bondar, MD
- Mr. Paul Kelly or Paul Kelly, Esq.
not
- Mr. Paul Kelly, Esq.
Do not use the abbreviation Dr. and Rev. Dr. before the names of individuals who hold only honorary doctorates.
Saint is written out for names of persons revered as holy, but may be abbreviated in informal contexts and in lists and tables:
- Saint Catherine
- Saint Francis of Assisi
- Saint Peter
- Saint Theresa
St. and SS. (plural) are the abbreviations used.
Abbreviate professional and official titles only when they are used with surnames preceded by first names or initials:
- Gen. Lewis MacKenzie but General MacKenzie
- Dr. Irene Taguchi but Doctor Taguchi
- Prof. A. N. Chomsky but Professor Chomsky
Note that there are spaces between each period and the following initial or name.
Even when used to address someone in correspondence, Rt. Hon., Hon. and Rev. must be preceded by the:
- The Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada
- The Hon. Alfonso Gagliano, Minister of Public Works and Government Services
- The Rev. John Smith
Titles used with personal names, Note
The honorary title "the Honourable" is used before the names of members of the Canadian Privy Council, lieutenant-governors and certain other officials. The title "the Right Honourable" applies for life to the governor general, prime minister and chief justice of Canada. See Department of Canadian Heritage, Precedence of Canadian Dignitaries and Officials.
Do not abbreviate Mayor, Vice-President, Professor and Father when used with personal names.
© Public Services and Procurement Canada, 2024
TERMIUM Plus®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank
Writing tools – The Canadian Style
A product of the Translation Bureau
