notation on the certificate is requiring additional information such as the town or city, or whether the S.S. notation is, always indicate the venue with the standard required information of state and county. The key to properly dealing with the S.S. This usage is loosely translated, “County of (name of the county) in particular.” The notary simply fills-in the name of the county where the notarial act actually occurred. We found this example on another state’s certificate for an acknowledgment: In this usage, the scilicet (remember, it means “namely” or “in particular”) indicates that the notary should further specify the venue by including the town or city name following the county name. Here’s a venue example we found in one state’s online notary manual:įORM OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT FOR an INDIVIDUAL: The scilicet still makes an occasional appearance. While the venue on most notarial certificates will appear as follows: The pronunciation is (forgive our Latin!!) “SILL-le-cet.” In fact, “S.S.” is the abbreviation for “scilicet” – a Latin term meaning “namely” or “in particular.” It is the predecessor of today’s familiar, and required, venue element. An astonishing number of notaries either don’t know the meaning of the “S.S.” symbol, or erroneously believe it is a request for a Social Security Number! Many documents, especially those generated by banks and similar institutions, display the symbol “S.S.” adjacent to the blanks for venue information (State of _, County of _). on the Notarial Certificate: What Does It Mean?

Namely abbreviation