Is there an issue with calling yourself an "esquire"?

sintecho — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:51:12 -0600

Are you, like me a few days ago, unaware of the debate raging on the proper use of the title Esquire? Among the issues: can you call yourself Esquire? can you use the title outside of a legal context? can the title even apply to women?

My journey into these (mostly boring questions) started when I found this conversation on Google answers about potential issues with women lawyers putting "Esquire" after their names, with the question being whether there was something inherently male about the term. The Illinois Bar Association has a Q&A by Gertrude Block explaining that Esquire was first recorded as a title in 14th-century England, when "it meant 'shield-bearer' and referred to a county gentleman aspiring to knighthood, who could gain that rank by apprenticeship to a knight." The United States, however, prohibited titles of nobility in Article I, Section 9(8) of the Constitution, and the title of Esquire instead came to identify occupation, namely "a justice of the peace or an associate judge, and finally was expanded to include lawyers."

[More trivia after the jump!]