Proper nouns name one specific person, place, organization, or thing. Maria, London, UNESCO, and the Nile each point to a single, named member of a larger group. A common noun says girl, city, organization, or river; a proper noun gives the exact name. Remove the proper noun and the sentence becomes less specific. Compare The girl arrived with Maria arrived. In English, proper nouns often work with Nouns, and they help identify people, places, and institutions by their exact names rather than by general category.

Naming specific people places and things

Idea
A proper noun names one specific person place organization or thing.
A proper noun points to one unique member of a group.
We use a proper noun when we want to name something by its exact name.
Proper nouns can name days months and special events too.

Proper nouns begin with a capital letter, no matter where they appear in a sentence. Paris, Toyota, and Monday all start with capital letters because they are names, not general words. In multiword names, every important word is capitalized: New York City, The White House, University of Oxford. Small connecting words such as of, and, and the stay lowercase unless they begin the name. A sentence can start with a proper noun, but the capital letter still belongs to the name, not just to the first word in the sentence.

Capital letters in proper names

Idea
A proper noun always begins with a capital letter.
Every important word in a multiword proper noun begins with a capital letter.
We do not use a capital letter for a common noun unless it starts a sentence.
The first letter of a nickname should also be a capital letter.

Personal names are proper nouns, so Aisha, David Chen, and Sofia Lopez always begin with capitals. Nicknames count the same way: Red, Tiny, and Coach are capitalized when they function as names. Titles such as Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Dr. also take capitals when they appear before a name: Dr. Patel, Mr. Green. Job titles are capitalized when they are used like names or part of a formal title, as in President Carter or Professor Lee; the same words stay lowercase when they only describe a person’s work, as in the president spoke or her professor called.

Personal names and honorific titles

Idea
A person's name is a proper noun and needs capital letters.
A nickname used as a name also takes a capital letter.
A title used before a name is capitalized when it comes with the name.
A job title is capitalized when it is used as part of a name.

Names of countries, cities, streets, rivers, mountains, buildings, and landmarks are proper nouns and need capitals: Japan, Cairo, Elm Street, the Amazon, Mount Everest, the Golden Gate Bridge. Calendar names are also proper nouns: Monday, August, Christmas, and Ramadan. Use capitals for the exact name, not for the general idea. Write the city of Rome, but city stays lowercase because it is a common noun. The proper noun carries the specific identity, and Counting Nouns often appear with these place names when people say how many countries, streets, or days they visited.

addressriverstreetmonthcountrymountaincitylandmarkdaypark

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A named location where someone lives or worksA public place with its own nameA road with a nameA large town with a specific nameA nation with its own nameA named day of the weekA moving body of water with a nameA named part of the yearA famous place with a special nameA high natural landform with a name

Capitalized place and calendar names

Word	Definition
country	A nation with its own name.
city	A large town with a specific name.
street	A road with a name.
landmark	A famous place with a special name.
day	A named day of the week.
month	A named part of the year.
park	A public place with its own name.
river	A moving body of water with a name.
mountain	A high natural landform with a name.
address	A named location where someone lives or works.

Scramble

Most proper nouns keep their form in the plural. To talk about more than one person with the same name, English usually adds a regular plural ending: the Smiths, two Olivers, three Uniteds. Family names often take -s when they refer to the whole family. For possession, add 's to the proper noun: Maria's bag, London's museums, the company's office. If the proper noun already ends in s, English still adds 's in careful writing: James's car. These patterns also appear with Irregular Plural Nouns and Collective Nouns when a name refers to a group as a single unit.

Plural and possessive forms of proper nouns

Idea
Most proper nouns stay the same in the plural.
A family name can take s to show more than one person.
We use 's to show that something belongs to one person or place.
We use s' to show possession for a plural family name ending in s.
A possessive proper noun still keeps its capital letter.