C. as a title

C. as a title
 

In legal documents from Mexico I've been wondering for a long time how to put C. (preceding someone's name) into English. I know it stands for Ciudadano with all the associated privileges, but in English "Citizen John Doe" sounds to me like a relic from the former USSR, so I've always just given up and omitted putting anything in front of the person's name. Plus, not knowing someone's marital status has kept me from saying either "Mrs." or "Miss" or (horrors) "Ms." as well as the unchangeable "Mr."

All the above refers to ordinary citizens. Any ideas?

Now when it comes to public officials - judges, mayors, governors etc., - I'm thinking of translating C. [primer nombre y apellido] as "The Honorable (first and last name)." Sound alright? I couldn't imagine using "The Honorable John Doe" if John Doe is not a public official of some sort.

"C.", as "Citizen" is used in legal documents as a title for people who don't have an academic degree. In Mexico it's very important to be a "Licenciado", "Ingeniero", "Doctor", "Maestro", etc. And the use of "Sr."/"Sra."/"Srita." is not considered respectful or neutral enough for an official document (because these titles sometimes might imply a sort of judgement of a person's quality).

If you have to translate this, I think you can use "Mr."/"Mrs." Except for a few names (like Refugio or Guadalupe) that can be used by either men or women, I don't think you'll get their gender wrong.

And if it's the necessary usage in English to insert "Honorable" before a certain public title, do; otherwise, leave "Mr." The idea of writing "C." is that we are all equal. :)