Should Mr. Mrs. or Miss be used as a prefix on a profile

Question

I personally say no. The Mr. Mrs. and Miss designation are old fashioned and do not add information to the profile as opposed to Dr., Rev, Cap.etc. that show who the person was in life.

Comments

Hi Brett,

I was told that in some cultures, countries, and times the prefix Mr represented a distinction as a higher class and therefore did add information when taken in context.

Presently I know some people like to use titles like Captain, Rev, Dr, Master, Sir, or what have you... while some do not.

Curiously I wonder at how some people are labled permenantly after death by others.  Despite a person considering and introducing themselves as a fisherman or philanthopist a genealogist decides they should be titled Dr or Convict.  I'm not really sure if we are supposed to indicate what we think most important or what they called themselves.

Good question.  I've asked similar myself :)

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Thanks Keith...I don't have a stong opinion either way just curious how others feel.

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That is the exact same way I feel Brett.  I'll be interested in the answers too.

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I'm ready to join the it-makes-no-difference-to-me club except for one that that does make a big difference to me.  That is, the discussion should include Ms with the others.

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I've had Ms. in my prefix field since I joined WikiTree, and occasionally consider removing it. I can never quite decide whether those sorts of prefixes should be there or not. (I don't agree that they're old fashioned, though. They appear everywhere. I notice because everyone gets mine wrong.)

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whatever's decided, can we exclude living people from the rule? I would not want to explain to someone why they can't include Mr. or Mrs. (or other) on their own profile. And I don't think anyone would be happy after telling me I need to delete the prefix from my profile either :D

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I don't think they should be used. We know men are Mr. and a wife is documented in the profile and and unmarried woman is a miss. It seems needless to me. And I don't like a profile where the wife's name is unknown and she is listed as Mrs. Somebody. But it is a good question to consider.

Answer 1

Keith and Brett,

This has come up for me in researching my ancestors of Colonial New England.  The title of "Mr." during a man's lifetime indicated he was a man of some prominence.  It can be useful genealogically when trying to distinguish two men by the same name. If someone is always appearing in the records as Mr. John Smith, then chances are he's a different man in the same records appearing only as John Smith.

In those cases, "Mr." makes sense AND an explanation should be included in the narrative.

The use of Mr. Mrs. Miss. etc for more current profiles does not make sense (IMHO). It does not add anything of genealogical / family history value.

 

Comments

I am so glad I asked this question. I'm learning new things already

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I've seen this in old parish records, as well. A few men will have Mr. in front of their name, while most of them don't.

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I was under the impression that Mr./Mrs. was a 20th century thing... If the other replies here are correct, I would say to only use them when such a distinction is made in the records. (IMHO).

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Guidance is definitely needed.

I've seen "Mr." and "Mrs." added in situations where it appeared that the contributor was simply indicating that these were adult men (in the case of Mr.) and married women (in the case of Mrs.). I didn't like it (particularly when I thought the person in question probably didn't even speak English), but I've not wanted to rock the boat with the contributors because I didn't have a solid basis for saying what they did was contrary to a policy.

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Mr in the past was similar to Esq. meaning esquire.  This meant they owned land and were property holders. Thus a higher status.  Should be included in to biography but not in the title.

Answer 2

Isn't the Mr. Title short for Master.  Mrs. For Mistress and miss for unmarried daughters. Is it relevant to our times. To make the distinction in this setting. I thought the titles were used for respect of land owners and gentry originally.

Comments

Reading this reminded me of when I was little and I asked my Grandma why the next door lady was called Miz (Ms.) instead of Mrs. (she wasn't close enough to call Aunt). I was told that Miz meant that she was a widow lady, that her husband had 'gone away.' When my Grandfather died my Grandmother then became a Ms. A few letters I saw were addressed to her as: Ms. Claude Lightfoot. A very different meaning from the meaning of present day USA!

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I understand this is an old thread - but in my experience Mr is nearly always an abbreviation for Mister rather than Master

Answer 3

I've read the discussions and general policy below, and would like to add comment and see your answers before I change the profiles I manage.

I feel that - in the absence of a profile having a specific title / rank / profession - there can still be some value in using Mr / Ms / Miss / Mrs / Master as prefixes.

Use of "Mr" implies that adult manhood was reached, even if evidence/references or date of marriage / death are not available. "Master" implies the opposite, death before male maturity. "Ms." is of course ambiguous, but having "Mr" or "Ms" stated has value when the first name (e.g. Frances, Georgie, Hester, Jude, Jo, Sammy) could be taken as either sex, and when the parents' names are not listed to show "son of / daughter of". "Mrs" highlights that the married name should normally match that of the husband, and there should also be a maiden name - which is often not the case in the many profiles, especially uploaded trees /ged's. "Miss" implies, for a mature woman, that there is evidence or inference that she never married; or for a younger woman, that her name may change if married.

Hence I feel that there is some value in these titles, if only for verification of other data in the profiles; or inference when such data is absent.

But of course, if it is regarded as Wikitree policy not to generally use these titles as prefixes, then of course I will abide by that without problem.

Answer 4

Greetings,

I found a profile yesterday that I initially thought "is this prefix really necessary."  They were using Mr. as a prefix and then I looked at the 1st name and it could be a common name for a female.  In this instance it made sense.

When I was younger, if my family was invited to an event, my older relatives used "master" for my younger brother and "miss" for myself.  

Kimberly

Comments

I recall people using Master and Miss when addressing children. I believe it was more of an affectation than a real form of address; bestowing a title on the little ones.

Even now I am sometimes referred to as Miss Kristina by younger folks. It is a cultural thing - not something to put on my profile.