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

Example	Pattern
Paris is a city many people want to visit.	A proper noun names one specific person place organization or thing.
Sofia is my cousin, not a general name.	A proper noun points to one unique member of a group.
The team is called Orlando Stars.	We use a proper noun when we want to name something by its exact name.
Monday is the first day of my class.	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

Example	Pattern
London is a famous city.	A proper noun always begins with a capital letter.
We visited New York City last summer.	Every important word in a multiword proper noun begins with a capital letter.
I saw river in the lesson title, but the real name is not just river.	We do not use a capital letter for a common noun unless it starts a sentence.
My brother is called Lucky at school.	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

Example	Pattern
Maria works in my office.	A person's name is a proper noun and needs capital letters.
Everyone calls him Skip.	A nickname used as a name also takes a capital letter.
Dr Lee will see you now.	A title used before a name is capitalized when it comes with the name.
Principal Green spoke to the class.	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.

Capitalized place and calendar names

Word	Definition	Example
country	A nation with its own name.	Japan is far from here.
city	A large town with a specific name.	Cairo is a busy city.
street	A road with a name.	We live on Maple Street.
landmark	A famous place with a special name.	The Eiffel Tower is a landmark many visitors see.
day	A named day of the week.	Tuesday is our test day.
month	A named part of the year.	My birthday is in April.
park	A public place with its own name.	We met at Central Park.
river	A moving body of water with a name.	The Nile is a famous river.
mountain	A high natural landform with a name.	Mount Fuji is well known.
address	A named location where someone lives or works.	Her office is on King Street.

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

Example	Pattern
There are two Marias in my class.	Most proper nouns stay the same in the plural.
The Garcias are coming to dinner.	A family name can take s to show more than one person.
This is Anna's book.	We use 's to show that something belongs to one person or place.
The Smiths' house is on our street.	We use s' to show possession for a plural family name ending in s.
James's bike is in the garage.	A possessive proper noun still keeps its capital letter.