This is the message I recieved from Mr. Levan I do fully believe it to be correct. Thanks to all of you who replied. I really appreciate the information you sent. I do hope all of you enjoy this answer from Mr. Levan as much as I have. Ms Betty McBee fkm@usurf.com Esquire is a title sometimes used to mean attorney or personal legal counselor. Judges sometimes use this title too. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 1988 edition (my copy is not so new) states the following definitions for "Esquire": [ secium shield akin to OHG sceida sheath] 1. a member of the English gentery ranking below a knight 2. a candidate for knighthood serving as shield bearer and attendant to a knight 3. used as a title of courtesy usu placed in abbreviated form (Esq) after the surname <John R. Smith, Esq.> archaic: A landed proprietor So my edition of Webster's doesn't list the attorney definition that I know that some of them use as a title on their business cards. Jesse Berst, A ZDNET Guru, and also a member of Random House has an online definition at url: http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/?date=19980609 "" we find: The usage of Esquire, used as a title and usually abbreviated Esq., has occasioned much spillage of ink in writings about the hierarchies of British life. Some relevant facts are that esquire etymologically and originally (give or take a few years) referred to a young man of noble birth who, as an aspirant to knighthood, served a knight (squire is now the word used for this, in historical senses only). It then meant 'a man belonging to an order of the English gentry ranking next below a knight', which encompassed various subclasses, such as the younger sons of peers, oldest sons of knights, and, most important for our purpose, men who held certain offices giving them the right to be called esquires, such as barristers (a form of lawyer), judges, and others. In England, Esquire was once used as a title for men who were esquires (in the sense of being in the next-lowest-to-a-knight rank of gentry); then it was applied to all men who may be regarded as "gentlemen"; finally, by the middle of this century, it came to be used as a courtesy title for all men. In America, the hierarchies of English aristocracy are not too important, and the use of esquire after a lawyer's name descends from its use by barristers in England. Two important pieces of etiquette to know about the usage of Esq. are that one does not use it of oneself (that is, one should not use it on one's own business cards or stationery)--it should be used only in address to other people; and that it takes precedence over all other titles, so that you shouldn't say "Mr. Robert D. Ardizzi, Esq." or even "Dr. John Smith, Esq.," but only "Robert D. Ardizzi, Esq." There was once some debate--even in law journals--as to whether "Esquire" could properly be used as a title after the names of female lawyers. Few people now challenge the appropriateness of such usage. Esquire is first recorded in English in the late fifteenth century; it comes, through Middle French, from Latin sc�t�rius 'a shield-bearer', from sc�tum 'a shield'. """ This might be a bit more than was wanted but it is what I have understood and have come up with in about 5seconds of looking... I hope that it helps. I thought Jesse's statement that "the use of Esquire on business cards, stationary and etc was not proper etiquette", was quite profound and interesting in that I know of a number of attorneys who do that very thing. Who said attorneys were smart? I would assume that most are familiar with the Gentlemen's magazine named "ESQUIRE" and that is probably an improper use of it too but who said we Americans, especially stand on etiqutte and protocol. So I guess in a society as cantankerous as the USA, it is probably ok to use it in forms not considered proper Etiquiett and protocols since we generally missuse many of the English Terms as would be defined by Oxford scholars. Good Day! William Link Levan