A title standardization system is may be configured to detect an edit operation associated with the job title field of a member profile stored by an on-line social network system and, in response, perform operations to derive a canonical title that represents a raw title string found in the job title field. The derived canonical title may be then associated with the member profile, in which the originally-obtained subject title string was found. This association may be stored in a database for future use, e.g., for targeting job recommendations, recruiting, making professional contacts, as well as for other purposes.