Practical International Data Management - Forms of Address
Definition
Forms of address, also known as honorifics or salutations, appear before or after personal names and may be indicative of:
gender: Mr, Herr, Frau, Ms
marital status: Miss, Mrs
social status: Lord, Duke, Baron
academic achievement or professional status: Dr, Professor, Mr, Diipl.-Ing.
age: Mg, Mo, U, Ma, Daw
formality of communication:Gospodin, Mátushka
Increasing numbers of people prefer to use no form of address.
Examples
In Japan the form of address is written after the personal name:
Yamata sensei Watanabe ishi
Processing
Don't assume that the form of address only appears before a personal name
Don't assume that the form of address always, and only, indicates gender
In many cultures, using forms of address that indicate marital status are regarded as archaic and insulting, and shouldn't be used
A person may have a whole string of forms of addresses: Herr Doctor Professor Schmidt
A single form of address may appear in different ways and in different places in the personal name string: Dr and Ph.D. for example, so a person may in one context be Dr John Smith and in another John Smith Ph.D.
Note that forms of address may also be names. For example, Mister is a given name in the United States; Sayed/Sayed is an Arabic given name which may be translated as Mister.
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