CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

Why not just create a new individual suffix as "Jr Phd"? Then, you can select it from the drop-down list of suffixes. That seems like the easiest way to me to get what you need.

Cynthia

sorry. this is not on our short term or medium term list. not too many folks have those needs. I think have a large list is probably your best bet for now

lobo

Originally, I just wanted to leverage the already existing functionality for suffix, so I wouldn't have to do any hacking to get people's qualifications into the invoices and such.
I'll give it a go with peterd's suggestion.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to post.
-Matt

Is there any way at least to remove the constraint on the prefix/suffix— to make it a free-form field?

Unfortunately, this is an impediment to our import, as some contacts write their name "Dr. Jane Doe" while others prefer "Jane Doe, MD," and our legacy system thus dozens of different suffixes over a few tens of thousands of rows. And even if we were to get past the import by create all of them in the database, it's not quite usable to present a drop-down list with 40 or 50 on the edit forms.

Another way to handle this complex prefix / suffix requirement is to write custom hooks. I uploaded some code that may be a good starting point at: http://civicrm.org/node/651

What I have found is that how you address someone ( such as Dr. Jane Doe ) will depend as much on the formality of the occasion as much as the prefix and suffix.  For example, for an informal event, such as a movie night the message may start "Dear Jane." For a formal social event, the message may start "Dear Dr. Jane Doe"   For a formal professional event,  you may use "Dear Jane Doe, MD.

If Jane is married to another doctor, then you also have the potential of having to address her and her spouse as a couple. ( such as Dr. and Mr Doe ).