When to Capitalize Nouns

Capitalize proper nouns, such as specific people, places, or things. People, places, and things have a generic or common name (city, cat, planet, doctor) and a specific name for distinct, individual people places and things (Paris, Mr. Meow, Jupiter, Dr. Hanna).

A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing, and so should be capitalized. Below are some types of proper nouns with examples of each type.

Specific people and people with titles: Jim, Mary, Dr. Stevens, Ms. Jones, Secretary Janet Adams, Reverend Hastings, The Pope

Specific places, such as cities, rivers, businesses, organizations, monuments, and tourist attractions: Kansas City, the Amazon River, Bank of America, The Red River Co-op, the Washington Monument, Big Ben

Specific things, such as books, brand name items, religions, and astronomical features: The Scarlet Letter, the Quran, Kleenex, Coca Cola, Christianity, the Milky Way

Specific periods of time such as days of the week, months of the year, and periods of history or major events in history: Tuesday, October, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, World War I

Course names: Economics 101, Introduction to United States History, Programming for Beginners

Languages: English, Japanese, French

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