Ms. is a common English honorific used to describe women without saying if they are married or unmarried.[1] Ms. was invented to replace Mrs. (only for married women) and Miss (for unmarried women).[2] American feminists supported the idea of using "Ms."[1] [2] Now, most American women use "Ms.".[3] The word and idea of "Ms." has a very complicated and complex history.[2][3][4]
The honorific "Ms." goes back to at least the 1760s.[4] But, it was more "officially" proposed by a writer in 1901.[1] This writer proposed "Ms." to avoid accidentally calling a woman a wrong name.[1] This proposal was also the first marriage-neutral proposal.[4] "Ms." was accepted as an honorific by the New York Times in 1986.[1] Later, during a radio interview at the New York Radio Station, Sheila Michaels spoke out for the honorific "Ms." to be a title.[1] Eventually, "Ms." became official.[1][3]