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Known Titles and Abbreviations

Source: R/known_titles.R
known_titles.Rd

Returns a reference table of known name titles, academic degrees, professional credentials, military ranks, civic honorifics, and related abbreviations. Each entry includes the abbreviation (abbr), its expanded descriptive form (label), and a general category (type).

Usage

known_titles()

Value

A tibble with three columns:

abbr

Character abbreviation or short form of the title.

label

Expanded descriptive form of the title or credential.

type

Category of the title (e.g., "Academic Degree", "Military Rank").

Details

This dataset is intended for use in name-parsing, record linkage, and entity resolution applications, providing a consistent reference for recognizing and expanding abbreviated titles in personal or organizational names.

The type field groups each abbreviation into broad semantic categories such as:

  • Personal Title: honorifics like "Mr", "Ms", or "Dr".

  • Academic Degree: academic or professional degrees (e.g., "PhD", "MD", "MBA").

  • Religious Title: ecclesiastical or clerical designations (e.g., "Rev", "Fr", "Sister").

  • Civic / Political Title: governmental or judicial titles (e.g., "Senator", "Judge", "Honorable").

  • Military Rank / Affiliation: formal ranks or affiliations (e.g., "Lt", "Col", "USAF").

  • Professional Credential: licensed or certified professional credentials (e.g., "CPA", "PE", "RN").

  • Organizational Role: internal titles or positions (e.g., "CEO", "VP", "Ex Officio").

  • Other: geographic or contextual markers not part of formal titles (e.g., "La", "ZL").

See also

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_post-nominal_letters

Examples

titles <- known_titles()
dplyr::filter(titles, abbr %in% c("MD", "CPA", "LT"))
#> # A tibble: 3 × 3
#>   abbr  label                       type                   
#>   <chr> <chr>                       <chr>                  
#> 1 MD    Doctor of Medicine          Academic Degree        
#> 2 LT    Lieutenant                  Military Rank          
#> 3 CPA   Certified Public Accountant Professional Credential

# Lookup utility example
title_lookup <- setNames(titles$label, titles$abbr)
title_lookup["PHD"]
#>                    PHD 
#> "Doctor of Philosophy"