Proper nouns designate a specific person, place, or thing and are capitalized. Common nouns, which name a general class or category, are not capitalized.
| PROPER NOUNS |
COMMON NOUNS |
| President Bill Clinton |
a president, presidential |
| America , American |
a country, a citizen |
| the White House |
a house |
| the Queen Elizabeth 11 |
a ship |
| University of Missouri |
a university |
| Christmas |
a holiday |
| January |
a month |
| Dockers |
pants |
| Judaism |
a religion |
| God |
a god |
Adjectives, nouns, and verbs derived from proper nouns are capitalized.
Palestinian, Balkanize, Reaganomics, Jacksonian
When proper nouns and their derivatives become names for a general class, they are no longer capitalized. Some examples are titanic, thermos, mimeograph, and nylon. Some proper nouns today are in transition to common nouns (Teflon / teflon, Levi's/ levis ), and dictionaries often show both the capital and lowercase versions.
People and Groups. Capitalize personal names and nicknames.
Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon, Bill Murray, Magic Johnson Capitalize names of ethnic groups and nationalities and their languages.
Latino, African American, Russian, Chinese
