Capital letters distinguish proper nouns from common nouns. Proper nouns refer to unique individuals and entities. Thus China, the name of a unique country, is distinct from china, the common noun for the cups and saucers on the table.

Proper nouns include:

  • personal names, including nicknames and epithets  

Andrew     Johnsson     Kafka     Pavlov     Wang

Barack Obama     Mother Teresa     Red Baron     Iron Lady

  • family names with particles; note that the particles do not usually take capitals, but there are exceptions, so it is best to check with the source
Daphne du Maurier     Vincent van Gogh
  • countries, people and languages

America [country]     American [people]     China [country]     Chinese [language and people]     Spain [country]     Spanish [language and people]

People in north Africa speak Arabic.    

The official language of the government in China is Mandarin.  

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander [people]     

One of the most widely spoken Aboriginal languages is Warlpiri. [language and people]

  • names of religions (and their adjectives) and deities

Buddhism, Buddhist     Christianity, Christian     Hinduism, Hindu     Islam, Islamic, Muslim     Judaism, Jewish

Allah     God     Jehovah     Lakshmi     Shiva     Yahweh

  • specific names of other entities, such as ships, aircraft and other vehicles (which take italics)
HMS Endeavour     the Ghan     the Indian Pacific     Puffing Billy
  • days of the week and months; capitalise both their full and abbreviated forms

Monday     Friday     Wed     Sat

January     March     Apr     Dec

Terms derived from proper nouns

In common terms that include a proper name (e.g. the name of an inventor or place of origin), the proper name takes a capital and the other words do not. The same rule applies to names of plants and animals:

Achilles tendon     Markov chain     Higgs boson particles     Venus flytrap

Leadbeater’s possum     Tasmanian blue gum     Venezuelan parakeet

However, capital letters are not used in general words and phrases derived from proper nouns once they have become common nouns through repeated use:

braille     leotards     sandwich     shrapnel     wellingtons    

Similarly, do not capitalise the names of units of measurement, even when named after someone. See Units of measurement for more information.

This also applies to compound terms where the descriptor is derived from a proper noun:

cheddar cheese     epsom salts     pasteur pipette  

Check your dictionary to determine whether such terms should use capital letters.

Reminder. Use only 1 dictionary while you work on a document – preferably a comprehensive, unabridged edition. Dictionaries may vary in the spelling and hyphenation of some words, even between editions. For example, the Australian Oxford English dictionary is not identical to the Macquarie dictionary, and the 6th edition of the Macquarie dictionary differs from Macquarie dictionary online.

The European Union provides protected designation of origin or protected geographical indication status to the names of some foods and wines (see Aims of EU quality schemes(Opens in a new tab/window) for more information). In these cases, the geographical name must retain the capital letter (e.g. Kalamata olive oil).

Do not use capitals in adjectival expressions referring to styles of type or numerals:

arabic numbers     roman type         

When these names refer to people or languages, use a capital letter:

the Romans

People in north Africa speak Arabic.

Use Latin names in formal writing.