When you sign your name with credentials, list academic degrees first, then professional licenses, state designations, national certifications, and honors or fellowships last. Separate each with a comma, and in current professional style, skip the periods inside the abbreviations themselves. So it’s Sarah Chen, PhD, RN, CCRN — not S.C., Ph.D., R.N., C.C.R.N., and not a jumbled string that puts a certification ahead of a degree.
The Standard Order
The accepted hierarchy moves from your most permanent achievements to those that are more specialized or require renewal:
- Academic degrees, highest earned first (PhD, MD, EdD, MS, MBA, BSN)
- Professional licenses granted by a state, such as a medical license, law license, or PE for Professional Engineer
- State designations or registrations tied to a specific jurisdiction, such as a state-issued Registered Dietitian credential
- National certifications earned through a certifying body, often with continuing-education requirements
- Honors, awards, and fellowships, such as FACHE for Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives
Degrees anchor the string because they don’t expire. Licenses come next because they prove you’re legally authorized to practice. Certifications sit below licenses because they demonstrate specialty competence rather than the underlying right to work in the field. Honors close out the sequence.1ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society. How to Properly List Your Academic Degrees and Credentials
If you hold an advanced degree, drop the lower degree in the same field. Someone with a PhD in psychology lists the PhD and omits the MA in psychology. But an MBA and an MS in Data Science are different qualifications, so both belong: Jane Doe, MBA, MS.1ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society. How to Properly List Your Academic Degrees and Credentials
When Two Credentials Sit at the Same Level
Two national certifications, or two master’s degrees in different fields, need a tiebreaker. Lead with whichever is most relevant to your current role. A project manager holding both a PMP and a Six Sigma Black Belt puts PMP first when writing in a project management context. When relevance is roughly equal, alphabetical order is the accepted default.
Punctuation and Periods
Place a comma after your last name, then separate each credential with a comma:
Sarah Chen, PhD, RN, CCRN
On the abbreviations themselves, both the Chicago Manual of Style and APA recommend dropping periods from abbreviations made of two or more capital letters. So PhD, not P.h.D. MBA, not M.B.A. MD, not M.D.2The Chicago Manual of Style Online. FAQ – Abbreviations 89
Older publications and some official forms still use periods, and a few organizations prefer them in formal correspondence. Neither version is wrong outright. If your employer or licensing board doesn’t specify, the period-free format is the current standard.3The Chicago Manual of Style Online. FAQ – Abbreviations 16
Don’t Double-Title Yourself
Never pair a prefix with a post-nominal that says the same thing. Write either Dr. Jane Doe or Jane Doe, PhD. Writing Dr. Jane Doe, PhD tells the reader you have a doctorate twice. The same holds for physicians: Dr. Marcus Lee or Marcus Lee, MD, not both.4Australian Government. Titles, Honours, Forms of Address – Academics and Professionals
Which form to pick is a context call. Post-nominals are more informative in clinical or academic settings where the specific degree matters (MD versus DO versus PhD versus PsyD). “Dr.” is simpler when readers only need to know you hold a doctorate. Pick one form for a given context and stay consistent.
Esq. for Attorneys
Esquire, abbreviated Esq., is a courtesy title used in the United States to identify a licensed attorney. It follows the name with a comma: John Smith, Esq. It never combines with Mr., Ms., or Mrs. before the name. So it’s John Smith, Esq. or Mr. John Smith, but not Mr. John Smith, Esq.5Legal Information Institute. Esquire
A subtlety catches many attorneys off guard: traditional etiquette holds that Esq. is properly applied by others when addressing you, not by you when signing your own name. In practice, plenty of lawyers use it in their own signature blocks and the convention has loosened. If you want to follow the older rule, use JD instead, or sign without a post-nominal and let the letterhead identify you.5Legal Information Institute. Esquire
Nursing Credentials
Nursing is where credential ordering comes up most often, because nurses accumulate overlapping credentials across education, licensure, and specialty certification. The American Nurses Credentialing Center recommends a four-part sequence: highest degree, licensure, certification, then honorary recognitions.6American Nurses Association. Certification Credentials Chart
- Degree first: BSN, MSN, or DNP
- Licensure second: RN, APRN, or LPN
- Certification third: CCRN, FNP-BC, or CNOR
- Honors last: FAAN for Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing
A fully credentialed nurse practitioner might sign as Maria Lopez, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC. The degree shows education, the license confirms authority to practice, and the certification identifies the specialty.
Which Credentials to Actually Include
A CV or a journal submission calls for the full string. Everyday email, internal memos, and business cards don’t. Listing every credential you’ve ever earned on a routine message reads as cluttered.
The working rule: include only credentials relevant to the audience and purpose. A clinical psychologist emailing a referral source might sign as Dr. Sarah Kim, PsyD, ABPP. That same psychologist emailing a contractor about office renovations signs as Sarah Kim. Loading up every communication with a full string signals insecurity to people who know the conventions.
When you trim, drop from the bottom of the hierarchy first. Cut honors and niche certifications before you’d touch a degree or license. And never omit a license or credential that’s legally required on the type of document you’re signing. Many regulated professions require your license number or credential to appear on clinical notes, reports, or official filings regardless of how informal the exchange feels.
Retired, Inactive, or Lapsed Credentials
Stepping back from active practice raises a specific question: can you keep using the credential? It depends on your licensing board. Some boards issue a formal retired status that allows continued use of the title with a “retired” designation. In California, for example, an occupational therapist with a retired license can use “occupational therapist, retired” but cannot abbreviate the word “retired” in any form, and misusing the title is grounds for discipline.7Legal Information Institute. Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 16, 4128 – Retired Status
If your license has simply lapsed or moved to inactive status, using the credential without qualification can cross a legal line. Check your board’s rules. If you want to signal your background without claiming active licensure, formats like “Jane Doe, RN (Retired)” work, or you can limit the credential to a CV’s education section where it clearly reads as historical.
The Legal Risk of Listing Something You Haven’t Earned or Kept Current
Listing a credential you haven’t earned, or one that has expired, isn’t only a professional problem. Most states treat practicing under a false credential, or holding yourself out as licensed when you’re not, as a criminal offense. Penalties range from misdemeanor charges to felony prosecution depending on the profession and jurisdiction.
Even short of criminal exposure, a licensing board can discipline you for credential misuse: public reprimand, suspension, or revocation of the license you do hold. And the risk isn’t limited to outright fraud. Continuing to use “RN” after letting your nursing license lapse, or listing a certification you didn’t renew, can trigger an investigation if someone files a complaint.
Audit your credential string on a schedule. When something lapses, remove it from your email signature, business cards, and online profiles right away. When you earn something new, add it in the correct position in the hierarchy. The string after your name is a live representation of what you’re currently qualified to do, and it should match reality at every moment.