Honorifics in canon

 I often read in fics an abundance of academic and professional titles and would love to straighten this out. I can’t find an existing HP article about this, but did enjoy this brief LiveJournal post. 

 

First, let’s discuss honorifics in the real world.

 

• Formal titles include sir, gentleman, ma’am (rhymes with jam if you are addressing Her Late Majesty TQ), madam (NOT madame unless French), dame, lord, lady. 
• Academic titles include mister, doctor and professor. Mister/Miss/Ms - surgeons. Doctor - holder of a degree such as PhD, MBBS, DPhil. Professor - very hard to get this title. One can have ‘doctor’ or ‘professor’ on UK passports. It’s gonna be the first thing I do on completion of my PhD. In contrast to America, Australia, etc., there are very few professors in hospitals/universities. It is a much bigger deal to be a professor in the kingdom.
• Finally, the Armed Forces and the police have rank-related honorifics, such as PC Plod/Police Constable Plod.

 

Now let’s look at canon.

 

• Healer is used in place of Doctor. ‘You – er – haven’t seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?’
• There is no instance of Minister Fudge, Minister Scrimgeour, Minister Shacklebolt or Minister Thicknesse. ‘President Obama’ is a phrase but ‘Prime Minister Sunak’ is not. Therefore Minister Shacklebolt is probably an Americanism.
• Similarly there is no instance of Auror Moody, or Auror Anybody
• There is no instance of Headmaster Dumbledore, Headmaster Snape or Headmaster Anybody. It’s ‘The Headmaster’ or ‘Professor Dumbledore’ or ‘Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress’
• Unspeakable is a job title, not a rank. There is no ‘Unspeakable Surname’
• Master has been addressed in a previous post. Master is a formal way of addressing little boys.
• There is no Heir Surmame
• No Obliviator Surname either, which isn’t a surprise as we’ve got no named Obliviators

 

In conclusion, Healer is the only non-standard canonical honorific. Thank you for coming.