What is a proper surname/title for a single female? Is it Ms. or Miss?

Question

What is a proper surname/title for a single female? Is it Ms. or Miss?

Answer 1

They're the same thing; however, Miss is more colloquial.

Answer 2

When you can speak to the person themselves, ask what they prefer.  If you don't know the person to speak to I think it is good to go with the generic Ms.  This would be fine on business letters etc.

Hope this helps you.

Kind regards

Lisa

Answer 3

In both American and British usage, "Mrs" indicates that a woman is married, "Miss" indicates she is single (whatever her age), and "Ms" is used without reference to her married status.

Thus, it has become standard business practice to address business correspondence to a woman as "Ms" particularly if her marital status is not known.  After all, it isn't necessary to know whether an accountant or attorney is married or not.  Socially, depending on a woman's age, she may prefer Miss.

American usage places a period after the Mrs. and Ms. while British usage does not.

Answer 4

Miss/Ms is a title typically used for an unmarried woman. Miss was formerly the default title for a businesswoman, but it has largely been replaced by Ms. Current American etiquette states that Ms. is preferred for a woman who has kept her maiden name after marriage. While Miss is still used, it is usually reserved for girls under eighteen. The American Heritage Book of English Usage states that: "Using Ms. obviates the need for the guesswork involved in figuring out whether to address someone as Mrs. or Miss: you can’t go wrong with Ms. Whether the woman you are addressing is married or unmarried, has changed her name or not, Ms. is always correct."

Answer 5

I've always thought it was more of a personal preference.  I do notice, however, that some divorced women who have kept their married name use Ms. instead of Mrs.

Answer 6

Miss The feminists objected to females giving their maritial status with a miss or mrs, so ms was born

Answer 7

Generally, Miss would be used for a younger woman and Ms. would be more appropriate for someone a little older, or who has been married and are divorced or widowed.

Answer 8

It's really a preference. Some unmarried women prefer Miss while others prefer Ms.

Answer 9

Miss is a single female, Ms is for female who dont want to be genderised usually lesbians are Ms

Answer 10

Miss refers to a single female. Ms. is a product of feminism that is universal to all women, married or not. (Mr. does not disclose a person's marital status.)

Answer 11

its MISS (usually a young and single female)

Answer 12

They're both the same thing. Ms. is usually used in the title and Miss is usually used in speaking... like Mr. and Mister.

Answer 13

Miss is civil.it can imply that the girl is single

Ms is for the older woman and can imply that she has been married or wishes to be single.

Answer 14

it's ms.unless in the professional world it's ms big time