Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters: Difference between revisions

This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut [[:|MOS:CL MOS:CAPS WP:MOSCL WP:MOS-CL WP:MOSCAPS WP:CAPITAL]]

Initial capitals and all capitals should not be used for emphasis. For example: "it is not only a LITTLE learning that is dangerous" and "it is not only a Little learning that is dangerous" are both incorrect; use italics instead: "it is not only a little learning that is dangerous".

Capital letters are sometimes a matter of regional differences; for example, British writers and editors are more inclined to use them than their American counterparts. If possible, as with spelling, use rules appropriate to the cultural and linguistic context; in other words, do not enforce American rules on pages about English or Australian topics or British rules on pages about American topics. In regard to pages about other cultures, choose either style, but be consistent within the page itself.

Capitalize the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns in headings, but leave the rest lower case. Thus "Rules and regulations", not "Rules and Regulations".

Titles such as president, king, or emperor start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "President Nixon", not "president Nixon". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "De Gaulle was the French president." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Hirohito was Emperor of Japan." Similarly, "Louis XVI was the French king" but "Louis XVI was King of France", King of France being a title in that context. Likewise, capitalize royal titles: "Her Majesty" or "His Highness". (Reference: Chicago Manual of Style 15th ed., 8.35; The Guardian Manual of Style, "Titles" keyword.) Exceptions may apply for specific offices.

In the case of "prime minister", either both words begin with a capital letter or neither, except, obviously, when it starts a sentence. Again, when using it generically, do not use a capital letter: "There are many prime ministers around the world." When making reference to a specific office, generally use uppercase: "The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said today…" (A good rule of thumb is whether the sentence uses a definite article [the] or an indefinite article [a]. If the sentence uses the, use "Prime Minister". If the sentence uses a, go with "prime minister". However to complicate matters, some style manuals, while saying "The British Prime Minister", recommend "British prime minister".)

Names of religions, whether as a noun or an adjective, and their followers start with a capital letter.

Individual deities begin with a capital letter: God, Allah, Freya, the Lord, the Supreme Being, the Messiah. The same is true when referring to important religious figures, such as Muhammad, by terms such as the Prophet. Groups of deities should not be capitalized (the Norse gods). Transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense also begin with a capital letter: Good and Truth. Pronouns referring to deities, or nouns (other than names) referring to any material or abstract representation of any deity, human or otherwise, do not begin with a capital letter.

Scriptures like the Bible and Qur'an should be capitalized.

Do not capitalize other groups of mythical creatures, such as elves, fairies, nymphs or genies. The exception is some works of fantasy, such as those of J.R.R. Tolkien, where the audience considers the mythical creatures an ethnicity and thus written with an initial capital. The given name of individual mythical creatures is capitalized (the angel Gabriel).

Philosophies, theories, doctrines, and systems of thought do not begin with a capital letter, unless the name derives from a proper noun: lowercase republican refers to a system of political thought; uppercase Republican refers to a specific Republican Party (each party name being a proper noun).

The names of months, days, and holidays always begin with a capital letter: June, Monday, Fourth of July, Michelmas, Ides of March.

Seasons start with a capital letter when they go with another noun or when they personify. Here they function as proper nouns: "Winter Solstice"; "Autumn Open House"; "I think Spring is showing her colors"; "Old Man Winter".

However, in the general sense, they do not start with a capital letter: "This summer was very hot."

Editors have hotly debated whether the common names of species should start with a capital letter, and this remains unresolved. As a matter of truce, both styles are acceptable (except for proper names), but create a redirect from the alternative form, to prevent article duplication.

Names of other planets and stars are proper nouns and begin with a capital letter: "The planet Mars can be seen tonight in the constellation Gemini, near the star Pollux."

The words sun, earth, and moon are proper nouns when the sentence uses them in an astronomical context, but not elsewhere: so "The Sun is a main sequence star, with a spectral class of G2"; but "It was a lovely day and the sun was warm". Note that these terms are only proper nouns when referring to a specific spectral body (our Sun, Earth and Moon): so "The Moon orbits the Earth"; but "Pluto's moon Charon".

Regions that are proper nouns, including widely known expressions such as Southern California, start with a capital letter. Follow the same convention for related forms: a person from the Southern United States is a Southerner.

Directions (north, southwest, etc.) are not proper nouns and do not start with a capital letter. The same is true for their related forms: someone might call a road that leads north a northern road, compared to the Great North Road.

If you are not sure whether a region has attained proper-noun status, assume it has not.

Proper names of specific institutions (for example, Harvard University, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, George Brown College, etc.) are proper nouns and require capitalization.

However, the words for types of institutions (university, college, hospital, high school, etc.) do not require capitalization if they do not appear in a proper name:

Incorrect: The University offers programs in arts and sciences.

Correct: The university offers… or The University of Ottawa offers…

Names of musical genres do not require capitalization at all. For example:

Incorrect: They are a Psychedelic Rock band.

Correct: They are a psychedelic rock band.

When showing the source of an acronym, initialism, or syllabic abbreviation, it is neither necessary nor desirable to emphasize the letters that make up the acronym:

Incorrect: FOREX (FOReign EXchange)

Incorrect: FOREX (foreign exchange)

Correct: FOREX (foreign exchange)

Avoid writing in all capitals. Here are some guidelines:

1. Reduce newspaper headlines and other titles from all caps to title case: Replace "WAR BEGINS TODAY" with "War Begins Today". This is what The New York Times does when transcribing its historical collection.[1]
2. Reduce track titles on albums where all or most tracks are in all capitals to title case.
3. Reduce court decisions from all caps to title case: The decision when issued was "ROE v. WADE", but write it as Roe v. Wade.
4. Reduce proclamations, such as those for the Medal of Honor from all caps to title case.
5. Instead of all caps for emphasis, use italics. See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (emphasis)
6. Write acronyms in all capitals (but note: some acronyms have now become ordinary lowercase words, such as scuba and laser).

Some names and trademarks use mixed or non-capitalization, such as iPod, k.d. lang, e.e. cummings, eBay and others.

1. For trademarks that are written in all or mixed capitalization, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (trademarks).
2. For people who use lowercasing in their names, capitalize normally within the article, but include the lowercase spelling within the lead. For the article title, follow the lead of outside sources and use the most commonly-used version of spelling, per Wikipedia:Naming conventions. For example, if New York Times and USA Today routinely capitalize the name, use the same spelling here on Wikipedia. If the situation is ambiguous, capitalize normally.

Most words with prefixes such as Anglo-, Franco-, etc., are capitalized. For example, Anglo–Saxon, Anglo–French and Anglo–Norman are all capitalized. However, there is some variation concerning a small number of words of French origin. In French, these words are not capitalized, and this sometimes carries over to English. There are variations by country, and since editors often refer to only one dictionary, they may unwittingly contravene WP:ENGVAR by changing usage to that of their own country. The main exceptions to the capitalization rule are the following.^[1]

• anglicism, gallicism, etc. These words are often, but not always, capitalized. Anglicism is less likely to be capitalized in Canada.

• anglicize, gallicize, etc. Anglicize is often capitalized in the U.S., and sometimes in other countries. Gallicize is often capitalized in the U.S., and usually capitalized in other countries.

• anglophile, francophile, etc. Words in this category are usually capitalized both as nouns and adjectives, except in Canada where they sometimes are.

• anglophobe, francophobe, etc. Words in this category are capitalized in all countries except Canada, where they sometimes are. The same applies to anglophobic.

• anglophone, francophone, etc. These words are often capitalized in the U.S. as adjectives, and usually as nouns. They are usually not capitalized in other countries, whether as nouns or adjectives.

See: Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums#Capitalization.

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (trademarks)

• Chicago Style Q&A on caps