Editing Proper noun (section)

== Capitalization ==

In languages that use [[alphabetic]] scripts and that distinguish lower and upper [[Letter case|case]], there is usually an association between proper names and [[capitalization]]. In German, [[German nouns|all nouns]] are capitalized, but other words are also capitalized in proper names (not including composition titles), for instance: {{lang|de|der Große Bär}} (the Great Bear, [[Ursa Major]]). For proper names, as for several other kinds of words and phrases, the details are complex, and vary sharply from language to language. For example, expressions for days of the week and months of the year are capitalized in English, but not in Spanish, French, Swedish, or Finnish, though they might still be considered proper names. Languages differ in whether most elements of multiword proper names are capitalized (American English has ''House of Representatives'', in which [[lexical word]]s are capitalized) or only the initial element (as in Slovenian {{lang|sl|Državni zbor}}, "National Assembly"). In [[Czech language|Czech]], multiword settlement names are capitalized throughout, but non-settlement names are only capitalized in the initial element, though with many exceptions.

=== History of capitalization ===

European alphabetic scripts only developed a distinction between upper case and lower case in medieval times so in the alphabetic scripts of ancient Greek and Latin proper names were not systematically marked. They are marked with modern capitalization, however, in many modern editions of ancient texts.

In past centuries, [[Orthography|orthographic]] practices in English varied widely. Capitalization was much less standardized than today. Documents from the 18th century show some writers capitalizing all nouns, and others capitalizing certain nouns based on varying ideas of their importance in the discussion. Historical documents from the early United States show some examples of this process: the end (but not the beginning) of the [[United States Declaration of Independence#Annotated text of the engrossed declaration|Declaration of Independence]] (1776) and all of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]] (1787) show nearly all nouns capitalized; the [[United States Bill of Rights#Text of the Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] (1789) capitalizes a few common nouns but not most of them; and the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment]] (1865) capitalizes only proper nouns.

In [[Danish orthography|Danish]], from the 17th century until the orthographic reform of 1948, all nouns were capitalized.<ref>Kjeld Kristensen: Dansk for svenskere, page 133, Gleerups 1986, ISBN 91-38-61407-3</ref>

=== Modern English capitalization of proper nouns ===

In modern [[English orthography]], it is the norm for recognized proper names to be capitalized.{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|pp=1758–1759}}  The few clear exceptions include ''summer'' and ''winter'' (contrast ''July'' and ''Christmas''). It is also standard that most capitalizing of common nouns is considered incorrect, except of course when the capitalization is simply a matter of text styling, as at the start of a sentence or in titles and other headings. See [[Letter case#Title case|Letter case § Title case]].

Although these rules have been standardized, there are enough gray areas that it can often be unclear both whether an item qualifies as a proper name and whether it should be capitalized: "the [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Cuban missile crisis]]" is often capitalized ("[[Cuban Missile Crisis]]") and often not, regardless of its syntactic status or its function in discourse. Most [[style guide]]s give decisive recommendations on capitalization, but not all of them go into detail on how to decide in these gray areas if words are proper nouns or not and should be capitalized or not.{{efn|Such guides include ''AMA Manual of Style''{{sfn|AMA|2007}} and ''Associated Press Stylebook''.{{sfn|Associated Press|2007}} The major US guide is ''[[Chicago Manual of Style]]''; the major British one is ''[[New Hart's Rules]]''. According to both of these, proper names are generally capitalized, but some apparent exceptions are made, and many nouns and noun phrases that are not presented as proper names include capitalization. For example, ''[[Council of Science Editors#Publications|Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers]]'' (8th edition, 2014) does not appeal to proper names in discussion of trademarks ("Aspirin", for applicable countries; 9.7.7) or biological taxa ("The Liliaceae are very diverse"; 22.3.1.4), except to mention that component proper nouns are capitalized normally ("Capitalize other parts of a virus name only if they are proper nouns:&nbsp;... ''Sandfly fever Naples virus''"; 22.3.5.2). The guides vary in their recommendations. Valentine et al. (1996) cite dictionaries and grammars in an effort to settle the scope of the term ''proper name'', but decide (against the majority) not to include expressions for days of the week or months of the year. They cite as evidence the fact that French does not capitalize these.}}

Words or phrases that are neither proper nouns nor derived from proper nouns are often capitalized in present-day English: ''Dr'', ''Baptist'', ''Congregationalism'', ''His'' and ''He'' in reference to the Abrahamic deity (God). For some such words, capitalization is optional or dependent on context: ''northerner'' or ''Northerner''; ''aboriginal trees'' but ''[[Aboriginal land rights in Australia]]''. When ''the'' comes at the start of a proper name, as in ''the White House'', it is not normally capitalized unless it is a formal part of a title (of a book, film, or other artistic creation, as in ''[[The Keys to the Kingdom]]'').

Nouns and noun phrases that are not proper may be uniformly capitalized to indicate that they are definitive and regimented in their application (compare brand names, discussed below). ''Mountain Bluebird'' does not identify a unique individual, and it is not a proper name but a so-called [[common name]] (somewhat misleadingly, because this is not intended as a contrast with the term ''proper name''). Such capitalization indicates that the term is a conventional designation for exactly that species (''Sialia currucoides''),{{sfn|Dunn|Alderfer|2006|p=354}} not for just any bluebird that happens to live in the mountains.{{efn|"This list [...&nbsp;a check-list, from the American Ornithologists' Union] makes sure that each capitalized common name corresponds to one and only one scientific name and each scientific name corresponds to one and only capitalized common name."{{sfn|Quinn|2005|p=106}} }}

Words or phrases derived from proper names are generally capitalized, even when they are not themselves proper names. ''Londoner'' is capitalized because it derives from the proper name ''London'', but it is not itself a proper name (it can be limited: ''the Londoner'', ''some Londoners''). Similarly, ''African'', ''Africanize'', and ''Africanism'' are not proper names, but are capitalized because ''Africa'' is a proper name. Adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and derived common nouns that are capitalized (''Swiss'' in ''Swiss cheese''; ''Anglicize''; ''Calvinistically''; ''Petrarchism'') are sometimes loosely called ''proper adjectives'' (and so on), but not in mainstream linguistics. Which of these items are capitalized may be merely conventional. ''Abrahamic'', ''Buddhist'', ''Hollywoodize'', ''Freudianism'', and ''Reagonomics'' are capitalized; ''quixotic'', ''bowdlerize'', ''mesmerism'', and ''pasteurization'' are not; ''aeolian'' and ''alpinism'' may be capitalized or not.

Some words or some [[homonyms]] (depending on how a body of study defines "[[word]]") have one meaning when capitalized and another when not. Sometimes the capitalized variant is a proper noun (the ''Moon''; dedicated to ''God''; ''Smith''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s apprentice) and the other variant is not (the third ''moon'' of Saturn; a Greek ''god''; the ''smith''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s apprentice). Sometimes neither is a proper noun (a ''swede'' in the soup; a ''Swede'' who came to see me). Such words that vary according to [[Letter case|case]] are sometimes called [[capitonym]]s (although only rarely: this term is scarcely used in linguistic theory and does not appear in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'').

=== Brand names ===

In most alphabetic languages, proprietary terms that are nouns or noun phrases are capitalized whether or not they count as proper names.<ref>''New Hart's Rules: The Oxford Style Guide'' (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2014. pp.&nbsp;105–106. ISBN 9780199570027.</ref> Not all brand names are proper names, and not all proper names are brand names.

* ''[[Microsoft]]'' is a proper name, referring to a specific company. But if ''Microsoft'' is given a non-standard secondary application, in the role of a common noun, these usages are accepted: "The ''Microsofts'' of this world"; "That's not the ''Microsoft'' I know!"; "The company aspired to be another ''Microsoft''."
* ''[[Chevrolet]]'' is similarly a proper name referring to a specific company. But unlike ''Microsoft'', it is also used in the role of a common noun to refer to products of the named company: "He drove a ''Chevrolet''" (a particular vehicle); "The ''Chevrolets'' of the 1960s" (classes of vehicles). In these uses, ''Chevrolet'' does not function as a proper name.{{sfn|Huddleston| Pullum |2002| pp=521–522}}
* ''[[Chevrolet Corvette|Corvette]]'' (referring to a car produced by the company Chevrolet) is not a proper name:{{efn|The authors use ''Cortina'' (manufactured by the company Ford) as an example of a "tradename but not a proper name".{{sfn|Huddleston| Pullum |2002| pp=521–522, 1758}}  }} it can be pluralized (French and English ''Corvettes''); and it can take a definite article or other [[Determiner (linguistics)|determiner]] or modifier: "the ''Corvette''", "la ''Corvette''"; "my ''Corvette''", "ma ''Corvette''"; "another new ''Corvette''", "une autre nouvelle ''Corvette''". Similarly, ''Chevrolet Corvette'' is not a proper name: "We owned three ''Chevrolet Corvettes''."  It contrasts with the uncapitalized ''[[corvette]]'', a kind of warship.