Suffix (name) - Religious Orders

Religious Orders

Members of religious institutes will commonly use their institute's initials as a suffix to their personal name. For example, a Franciscan friar uses the post-nominal initials O.F.M., derived from the Order's name in Latin, Ordo Fratrum Minorum (Order of Friars Minor). Equally, a Viatorian priest uses the suffix C.S.V. from the name of his religious institute, Clerici Santi Viatori (Clerics of Saint Viator).

These initials are not considered by members of religious institutes as an equivalent to academic or honorary post-nominial initials, but rather as a sign of membership in a particular lineage, equivalent to Senior or Junior.