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..or for non-professional who want to mislead people into thinking that they have those credentials and expertise.

100%

Though it's notable [^1] that only in America does "esquire" imply any credentials or expertise

Tonnes of non-special boys in the UK get "esquire" as a suffix (maybe some go on the become attorneys, but unrelated :)

[1]: EDIT: on second thought - it's not "notable" at all, perhaps "interesting" was the word I sought..

To be fair, though, if you can get funding for your PhD then you can do this already with an actual PhD.