How to refer to several titled individuals, "Mr x,y,z PhD"?

Question

How does one abbreviate "Mr Adams PhD, Mr Benson PhD, Mr Charles PhD" to use just one salutation and one title.

Do note that with a PhD each, these are "Doctors Adams, Benson and Charles" which solves both problems easily. — Andrew Leach, Mar 17 '15 at 23:40

MrWonderful · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-16T22:39:47.427

3

I believe you are seeking "Messrs." which is an abbreviation of the French 'Messieurs' and is commonly used in English as a plural for "Mr."

Example usage:

Dear Messrs. Jones, Adams and Jefferson,

edited Mar 16 '15 at 22:39

answered Mar 16 '15 at 20:33

MrWonderful

2

Oddly, the female equivalent, Mesdames, is not abbreviated. – Tim Lymington Mar 16 '15 at 21:14
@TimLymington - I believe you would be looking for Mmes. or Mses. depending on your location and intended recipient. See: https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/bien-well/fra-eng/orthographe-spelling/mme-mrs-eng.html – MrWonderful Mar 16 '15 at 21:20
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@MrWonderful You could mention that Messrs is short for the French Messieurs. Interestingly I have never seen Mesdames shortened to Mmes in English, though it is routinely so shortened in French. Americans, in my experience rarely use Messrs. They will often begin a formal business letter Gentlemen. I'm not sure how they would write Mr Jones, Mr Smith and Mr Bullfinch. – WS2 Mar 16 '15 at 22:32
@WS2 -Oddly, it took me 7 links down Google's results before I found a source to show that. I've updated the answer accordingly. Thanks! Oh, and my Mom has used Messrs. in business correspondence ever since the '60s. – MrWonderful Mar 16 '15 at 22:41

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