Credentials in an email signature: degrees, licences and the order to list them

Credentials in email signature text go on the name line, after the name, and only the ones your reader needs and you are entitled to use today. Where your professional body publishes an order, follow it. Where nobody does, a sensible default is highest degree first, then licence or registration, then certifications, then honours.

This page shows how to choose which credentials in email signature lines to show, what the bodies we read say about order and use, and four worked examples: a nurse practitioner, a project manager, an accountant and a lecturer.

In October 2026 we read the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) page on displaying credentials, the ANCC page on certification credentials, the American Nurses Association (ANA) position statement on credential order, the Project Management Institute (PMI) trademark usage guidelines, the ICAEW page on protecting the chartered accountant title and the GOV.UK style guide. The default order for other fields is our own convention, and we say so where it appears. General information, not legal advice.

Which credentials in email signature blocks earn a place

The GOV.UK style guide says to include a personal title only when it is relevant to the content, and it counts job titles, academic titles such as Dr, honorary titles and letters after a name among those titles. That is a good test for credentials in email signature lines too: relevant to whom? A client chasing an invoice does not need your first degree. A patient or a regulator may need your licence.

Credential	Usually show it?	Note
Highest degree that relates to the work	Often	Matters most where the degree is the qualification to do the job.
Professional licence or registration	Yes, in regulated work	It is the proof you may practise, so readers look for it.
Certification from a professional body	If your readers know it	Keep it only while it is active.
Membership letters such as ACA	Only if you are entitled	The body decides who is entitled.
Honours and fellowships	Optional	They go last.
Short courses and vendor badges	Usually not	A CV or a profile page is a better home. That one is our view.

The order for credentials in email signature lines

Nursing is the profession where we found a published order. The ANCC page lists it as highest earned degree, licensure, state designations or requirements, national certifications, awards and honors, then other recognition. The ANCC gives its reason: a degree is a permanent credential that can be removed only in extreme circumstances, while licences, certifications and honours depend on staying current or are voluntary. The ANA position statement, approved on 11 December 2009, recommends the same shape. The ANCC page uses commas between credentials, as in its example “Michael Anderson, PhD, MSN”.

Outside nursing we found no single order for credentials in email signature lines. Here is what the other bodies say, and where they are silent:

• PMI says a credential appears immediately after the holder’s name, for example on business cards or in an electronic signature block, and that this use needs neither the registered-trademark symbol nor an attribution line. The text we read does not say how to rank PMP against a degree.
• ICAEW says people who use the letters ACA or FCA without entitlement are usually former members, people who were never members, or members of overseas bodies. It adds that members of certain overseas accountancy bodies may use the letters if they include the country where they qualified.
• GOV.UK has no entry on the order of several letters after a name.

For everyone else we borrow the ANCC reasoning and apply it as our own default: what cannot be taken away first, then what is required to practise, then what is voluntary, then honours. If your professional body publishes something different, its version wins.

Four worked examples of credentials in email signature names

Every name below is made up. Each line shows the name as it would sit in the signature.

Profession	Name line	Basis
Nurse practitioner (US)	Amara Mensah, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC	ANCC order: degree, state designation, national certification.
Project manager	Daniel Okoye, MBA, PMP	PMI: credential directly after the name. Degree before certification is our default.
Chartered accountant (UK)	Priya Nair, ACA	ICAEW: the letters are for those entitled to them.
University lecturer	Dr Tomás Reyes	GOV.UK counts Dr among the titles to include when relevant. Dr or PhD, not both, is our rule.

The nurse row is expanded in the nurse email signature article, and the practice-level rules for clinicians are in the doctor email signature article. The next two are drawn by the emailfooter engine, with the letters typed into the name field.

Degree, then certification, all on the name line. The company and person are made up.

One set of letters, and only because the person is entitled to them. The firm and person are made up.

Degrees in email signature blocks: list one or none

Most business signatures do not need a degree, so degrees in email signature lines are the first thing to cut. List one when the degree is the qualification for the job (a doctor, an academic, an architect) or when your clients expect it. If you list one, choose the highest degree that relates to the work, not every degree you hold.

Dr and PhD say the same thing. “Dr Tomás Reyes, PhD” repeats it, so pick the title in front or the letters behind. The GOV.UK guide says it does not need to explain abbreviations such as BA or PhD, but it writes for readers of UK government pages. If your clients are international, spell out a less familiar one the first time, such as “Master of Science” in a longer bio.

Certifications in email signature lines: keep them current

Certifications in email signature lines age faster than degrees. A certification is something you hold today, not something you once earned. The bodies we read are blunt about it:

• PMI says anyone whose certification has lapsed should stop using the credential at once.
• The ANCC page says you may use an ANCC credential only with an active certification matching it, not after it has expired or if you have not passed the exam. It adds that ANCC investigates unauthorised use.
• ICAEW says the letters ACA or FCA are not for former members.

Put the renewal date in your calendar with the other renewals. The test below is ours.

1. Can you prove it today? Look it up on the body’s own register or certificate page.
2. Does this reader know the letters? If not, drop them or spell them out.
3. Is it on the right line? Letters belong after the name, and the role belongs in the title.
4. Is the order the body’s order? If the body has none, use the default above.
5. When does it expire? Write the date down and remove the letters on it if you have not renewed.

Putting credentials in email signature text in emailfooter

emailfooter has no separate field for credentials. Type them after the name in the name field, as in the examples above, and keep the job title in the title field. The job title guide covers that line. If you also want pronouns, put them after the credentials; the pronouns article covers the choices.

In a team, each employee edits their own name, so the letters are theirs to type. emailfooter does not check them against any register, and it does not push signatures into mailboxes, so each person installs the signature in their own mail app by following the steps shown. Write down who owns the credential rules, for example the practice manager or HR, and ask people to tell that person when a certification lapses. The parts of an email signature article explains why the name line is a required part, and emailfooter is free if you want one shared design.

Regulated professions should ask their regulator which credentials in email signature lines are required before copying a colleague’s line. The lawyer email signature article shows where to look for that.

A last test for credentials in email signature lines

Read the name line as a stranger would. If you cannot say what each set of letters means, or you could not prove it today, take it out. Credentials in email signature lines are a claim made in your name, and the shorter and truer the line, the better it works.

Frequently asked questions

How do I list credentials in email signature text?

Put them after your name, separated by commas, with the job title on its own line. Use the order your professional body publishes, or degree, licence, certification, honour if it has none.

What order do credentials in email signature lines follow?

For nurses, the ANCC order is highest degree, licensure, state designation, national certification, then honours. Other fields vary, so check your body, and otherwise use that same shape.

Should I put my degrees in an email signature?

Only the highest one that relates to your work, and only if readers will expect it. Most business signatures work without one.

Can I keep certifications in email signature lines after they expire?

No. PMI says a lapsed certification holder should stop using the credential, and the ANCC says its credentials need an active certification.

Do I write Dr and PhD together when listing credentials in email signature text?

Choose one. “Dr Tomás Reyes” and “Tomás Reyes, PhD” both work, and using both says the same thing twice.