"Doctor" is a title you become entitled to use by virtue of holding a PhD - you have the option to use it, but nothing compels you to do so if you don't want to.

Note that the reverse isn't true - representing yourself as holding a doctorate when you don't can be a fairly serious crime - if you did for the purposes of getting money from some, then it's probably some kind of fraud

Most people with Ph.D don't use the Dr title out of a formal setting.

Between People thinking that you're a physicianand asking about their health, and people thinking you're pedantic. Better staying discrete.

No one has to do anything. Live your life. Choose how you want to be addressed.

You don't hear lawyers going around being called Dr. Lastname, despite having JDs.

As a newly minted doctor, I prefer Dr. Drail because of the work I put in. I have seen three common name/title presentations though:

Dr. Drail

Dr. Drail, Ph.D.

Mr. Drail, Ph.D.

The last one obviously preserves a gendered title if desired. I tend to include my pronouns where applicable, as it makes clear my gender identity while allowing me to use the least cumbersome combo (Dr. Drail) without confusion. I haven't ever met someone who double stacks their honorifics (ie Dr. Mr. Drail), but if you want to make clear your gender, there aren't any rules against it, and it is common in some non-english speaking cultures.

Ultimately, it is your title, your honorific, so you get to decide how to present it. I prefer to just go by my name 90% of the time, but while applying for jobs or introducing myself in a profesional capacity, Dr. Drail (he/him/his) is a really easy way to get all the info across succinctly.

As a PhD holder who has worked in healthcare, I really couldn’t use the title doctor because the chance for confusion with a medical practitioner is too high. That’s fine by me, I only use the title on rare occasions such as when speaking publicly in my area of experience. Please just call me Meyotch.

There’s no law that says you have to use ‘dr’ or another title; and can instead go by Mr, if he wants.

It might also be possible to go by dr [first name], if that solves the question of gender affirmation. Might also be simpler/easier to get people to go along with it.

Also, I’d happily Knight him myself. There’s no law in America saying I can’t, either. so, there.

(And now I want to create a chivalric order. I’m thinking, cosplay while we clean up parks and/or whatever like that.) (the chivalric order of do-goodery.)

Double up. Assert dominance. Demand to be referred to as 'Mister Doctor'. Hmm.. 'Doctor Mister'? I think I like Mr. Dr. better.

You can use your full name plus PhD at the end, that should make it easier for people to get the gender of the person, and looks better for those who are not medical doctors.

I don't know for sure but for me, if I spent 10 years in college, and two or three years in an internship, working 15 hours a day, sometimes 20 or 30 hours straight with no sleep, I would think that having the doctor title is something I worked hard to earn.

I had a philosophy prof who said the title depends on the setting. If he were speaking at a conference, it's Dr. If he was teaching at a school, it's Professor.

If you're in a setting where those titles aren't relevant, don't use them.

As I understand it, Doctor is originally a male form, and Doctrix is female. FWIW

Follow up question, a trans woman with a PhD can use Doctress as title?

If you’re also a teacher, you get to use “Professor”

As others say, it's not required and you very much can use other titles. Most stick with Dr because of how much time and effort and stress went into it, although I only use Dr. because with my first name it let's me go by the name of a certain Simpsons character. "Hello, everybody!"

So far as I'm aware, non-occupational pre-nominal honorifics inure to the individual, so generally speaking, if that person doesn't want to use their title, they don't have to. And in the same way that most people will go along with someone's acquired honorific of Dr or Capt or whatever, the same should also apply if someone expressed that their honorific should not used. I have no citation for this, other than what I've seen in life.

As a sidenote, in Britain, I understand that medical doctors are able to use the pre-nominal of Dr, but surgeons specifically will drop the Dr and just use Mr. or Ms.

Apparently this stems from ages ago when surgeons did not have to have a medical degree, and the doctoral view was that surgeons were akin to butchers. This may have reflected the crudeness of early surgeries. As a result, surgeons developed a history of being Mr -- it's not clear if female surgeons also took on Mr. So after the various laws/rules changed so that surgeons also had to be medically qualified, they still kept the tradition of Mr.

Thus, a male student of medicine in the UK could go from Mr, graduate to Dr, and then graduate as a surgeon to Mr again. I have no citation for this either, but it's plausible for the ardently traditional British nation.