In any industry you have to learn a new language and sometimes have to work through the alphabet soup of acronyms. We call it Realtor®-speak. Here is a start but there is much more the deeper you get.
Your Identity Crisis!
The Real Estate Agency (REA) only knows you as a Licensee. Their job: to license qualified people and then regulate their licensees.
In our Associations (NAR, OAR, YCAR or PMAR) you are a Realtor®. This term can only be used by one who is a member of the National Association of Realtors®. Many times commercial brokers and property managers are not Realtors® and in some places significant numbers of licensees are agents, not Realtors®.