Most, if not all, modern states have honorific orders and decorations of some kind, and those are sometimes called orders of knighthood.
en.wikipedia.org Some titles are not genuine ranks, but either functions assumed by generals or honorific titles.
en.wikipedia.org The honorific was often accorded to the untitled gentry (e.g., knights or younger sons of noblemen), priests, or other people of distinction.
en.wikipedia.org Verbs are marked for aspect, certainty, predisposition and volition, dynamic, causative, mood, negation, and honorific.
en.wikipedia.org Over time the word became an honorific or nickname for a judge, county governor, head of a township or old man.
en.wikipedia.org