Pronouns in email signatures: how to add them, and whether to

To add pronouns to your email signature, put them after your name in brackets, as in Sam Okafor (they/them), or on a line of their own, as in Pronouns: she/her. Then save the signature in every email app you use. It helps people who only know you in writing get your pronouns right, and it is always your choice: nobody should be required to add them, and there are good reasons not to.

Why people put pronouns in their signature

You cannot know someone's pronouns unless they tell you. An FAQ written for Washington State employees by their LGBTQ+ staff network makes that point, and adds that pronouns do not always match how someone is perceived. Email makes guessing even less reliable: people who only know you in writing have your name and not much else, and Inclusive Employers, a UK workplace inclusion organisation, notes that sharing pronouns opens up the conversation about why nobody should assume someone's pronouns from how they look or from their name.

A pronoun line does the correcting before anyone gets it wrong. Stonewall, the UK LGBTQ+ charity, says pronouns in signatures help staff avoid misgendering each other, clients and customers, and visibly show support for trans people inside and outside the organisation.

The other reason is about everyone else. When cis colleagues share their pronouns too, a pronoun line stops marking anyone out. The Washington State FAQ puts it simply: the more people share, the more normal it becomes, and the more comfortable and safer it is for trans and non-binary people to share theirs. If the whole idea is new to you, the pronouns guide covers the basics.

Formats, with examples

There is no official format. Keep it short and give two forms of the pronoun, which is enough for anyone to work out the rest.

On the name line

The most common option, and the one people read first. Brackets or a vertical bar both work:

• Sam Okafor (they/them)
• Priya Shah (she/her)
• Jordan Lee | he/him

On a line of its own

Useful when your name line is already long, or a company template fixes how your name appears. Write Pronouns: they/them under your name or job title. If you would rather spell out all three forms, the Human Rights Campaign's own example does, on the name line: E. Wilson (pronouns: they/them/theirs).

With a link to an explainer

If you expect questions, turn a few words after your pronouns into a link to a page that explains why people share them: your organisation's own guidance, or a public explainer. Stonewall suggests this as an option. For example: Pronouns: she/they (why I share these), with the words in brackets as the link.

For work, study and freelance work

• Work: your name and pronouns on the first line, then job title and team. If there is a company template, add the pronouns to the name line rather than inventing a new layout.
• Study: your name and pronouns, then your course and year. Tutors and supervisors who meet you mainly by email are exactly the readers a pronoun line helps.
• Freelance: your name and pronouns, then what you do and your website. Your signature goes to clients you may only work with once, so decide whether you want pronouns in front of all of them. Gmail, for one, lets you save up to ten signatures and choose one for each message, so you can keep a version with pronouns and a version without.

After saving, send yourself a test email from every device and app you write from. Signatures are not always shared between them: Microsoft's help pages say Outlook signatures can be stored on the device where they were created, and that people who use both Outlook and Outlook on the web need to create a signature in each.

Neopronouns, any pronouns and titles

• Neopronouns. Write them exactly as you use them: Pronouns: xe/xem, or Pronouns: fae/faer. If readers may not know how to say them, add that: the Washington State FAQ gives fae/faer as pronounced fay/fair. More on neopronouns.
• More than one set. She/they or he/they usually means both are fine, but it sometimes signals a preference. If it matters to you, say so: she/they, either is fine.
• Any pronouns. Pronouns: any. If there is one set you would rather people avoided, you can add it, as in any pronouns except it. What any pronouns means in practice has its own page.
• Your name instead. If you would rather not be referred to with pronouns at all, Pronouns: please use my name says it in a few words.
• A title. In formal settings a title can go before your name. Mx is the one that does not indicate gender, as in Mx Sam Okafor, and the Human Rights Campaign notes that some people who use neopronouns use it instead of a gendered title such as Mr or Ms.

Why it has to stay optional

The organisations that recommend pronouns in signatures are also clear that nobody should be made to add them. Stonewall said in 2020 that pronouns in signatures should be encouraged but not made compulsory, because not everyone is comfortable sharing them, and that this can be true of cis and trans staff alike. Inclusive Employers tells employers never to mandate it. Microsoft's help pages for its own pronouns feature say using it should be optional, not mandatory.

For trans people, the reasons are concrete:

• You may be stealth at work. A signature goes to everyone you email. In a hostile workplace, even a correct pronoun line can feel like an invitation to speculate, and leaving it off is a reasonable decision.
• You may not be out yet. The Washington State FAQ notes that a trans person who is not out at work may use different pronouns at work and at home, and warns that asking such a person for their pronouns leaves them choosing, on the spot, between outing and misgendering themselves. A required signature line does the same thing in every email.
• You may still be working it out. If you are questioning your gender, you do not need a pronoun line until you want one, and you can change it whenever you like.
• It can be risky where you are. Microsoft advises organisations to consider local laws, regulations and cultural norms that could put employees at extra risk if their pronouns are displayed.

Rules can also change quickly. On 29 January 2025, the US Office of Personnel Management told federal agencies to turn off features in email systems such as Outlook that prompt users for their pronouns, and staff at several agencies, including the State Department, were told within days to remove pronouns from their signature blocks, the Associated Press reported. Check your organisation's current policy before relying on an old template.

What managers and HR should and should not do

A pronoun line only helps if the rest of the workplace backs it up. Microsoft's guidance for administrators says pronoun display should complement, not replace, wider efforts to support trans employees.

Do

• Talk to your LGBTQ+ staff network first if you have one, as Stonewall suggests, then offer an optional pronoun line in the signature template with clear guidance on format and placement. Say plainly that it is voluntary.
• Let senior people go first. Stonewall recommends leaders model sharing pronouns, which stops it looking like something only trans staff do.
• Use colleagues' pronouns, and when you slip, correct yourself and move on without a long apology. Practice helps, and the pronoun practice page is built for it.
• If you turn on profile pronouns in Microsoft 365, tell staff who will see them. The feature is off by default; once someone adds pronouns, everyone in the organisation can see them and users cannot limit that, although people outside the organisation cannot see them.

Do not

• Make it mandatory, chase people who have not added one, or ask them why. Inclusive Employers' advice is to respect that choice completely.
• Read anything into it. No pronoun line does not mean someone is cis, and they/them does not mean someone is non-binary.
• Announce someone's pronouns for them. When an employee transitions, Acas, the workplace advice service for Great Britain, says employers should tell other staff about their pronouns when and how the employee wants.
• Treat mockery as banter. Acas says deliberately misgendering a trans employee can be a form of harassment, and that an employer who does not take steps to stop it could be legally liable.

When a colleague mocks it or ignores it

Start by telling a slip from a choice. Someone who gets it wrong once and corrects themselves is learning. Someone who keeps using the wrong pronoun after reading your signature, or makes a joke of it, is doing something else. For a slip, a short correction or nothing at all is enough. For the rest:

• Correct it once, plainly, in writing if you can. For example: my pronouns are they/them, as in my signature. You owe no explanation. If the objection is grammar, singular they has been part of English for centuries.
• Keep a record. Acas suggests noting what happened, how it made you feel, dates and times, any evidence such as emails or screenshots, and any witnesses. Email makes this easier than most workplace problems.
• Raise it. Acas advises trying informally first, with your manager or HR, and making a formal complaint, called a grievance, if that does not work. A trade union representative can help with either.
• Know that the law differs. Acas gives the example of a trans woman whose colleagues deliberately keep calling her he after she asked for she or they, and says this is likely to be harassment. In the United States, federal guidance from 2024 said repeated and intentional misgendering could be harassment, but a Texas court set that part aside in May 2025 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission withdrew the whole guidance in January 2026. A union, an employment lawyer or a local LGBTQ+ legal service can tell you where you stand.

If a workplace turns your signature into a target, you are allowed to take it off. Your pronouns stay the same either way.

Signatures, display names and profile pronouns are different things

Pronouns can sit in three places in email, and each reaches a different audience.

• The signature is text added to the bottom of messages you write. Only the people who read that email see it.
• The display name is the name shown with your address when you send a message. In Gmail you change it from a computer, in the settings under Send mail as; it cannot be changed from the Gmail app. On a work or school Google account, an administrator can set the name that shows in the emails you send. Pronouns added to a display name sit next to your name for everyone who receives your mail, which is a bigger step than a signature.
• Profile pronouns are a field in your account. In Microsoft 365, if your administrator has turned the feature on, they appear on your profile card in Outlook and Teams, visible to everyone in your organisation. On Google accounts set up by a work, school or other organisation, they are hidden by default and you choose whether only you, your organisation or anyone can see them.

Each is set in a different place, so check all three. If your organisation offers profile pronouns you might use those and keep your signature plain; if most of your email goes outside the organisation, Microsoft 365 profile pronouns will not reach those readers, and a signature will.