View source for Vero - Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization)

{{Short description|Wikipedia guideline}}
{{redirect|WP:CAPITALIZATION|guidelines on capitalization outside of article titles|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters}}
{{Subcat guideline|naming convention|capitalization|WP:NCCAPS|WP:NCCPT}}
{{nutshell|Article titles should be in [[sentence case]], not [[title case]]. Only the first word is capitalized, except for [[proper name]]s.}}
{{Naming conventions}}

'''Do not capitalize the second or subsequent words in an article title, unless the title is a proper name.''' For multiword page titles, one should leave the second and subsequent words in lowercase unless the title phrase is a [[proper name]] that would always occur [[Capitalization|capitalized]], even mid-sentence.

This convention also applies within the article body, as there is usually no good reason to use capitals for other reasons. Outside Wikipedia, and within certain specific fields (such as medicine), the usage of all-capital terms may be a common way to feature new or important items. However, these cases are typically examples of [[buzzword]]s, which by capitalization are (improperly) given special emphasis.

For details on when to capitalize on Wikipedia, see the Wikipedia Manual of Style sections [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters|on capital letters]] and, when relevant, [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks|on trademarks]].  When in doubt, reliable reference works for capitalization conventions and other style matters may be useful.<ref>Current editions of some mainstream, general style references frequently used by MoS editors (current editions {{as of|lc=y|2017|post=):}}
* ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' (17th ed., Chicago University Press, 2017)
* ''[[The Elements of Style]]'' (Strunk & White<!--Specified because there are multiple "Strunk & some-random-guy" self-published versions on Amazon, masquerading as updates.-->, 4th ed., Longman, 1999)
* ''[[Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]'' (Butterfield, 4th ed., Oxford U. Press, 2015)
* ''[[Garner's Modern English Usage]]'' (4th ed., Oxford University Press, 2016)
* ''[[New Hart's Rules]]'' (Waddingham, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2015)
</ref>
Note that all style guides conflict on some points; the Wikipedia MoS and naming conventions are a [[Wikipedia:Consensus|consensus]]-based balance between them, drawing primarily upon academic style, not journalistic or marketing/business styles, and taking into account Wikipedia-specific concerns.

==Software characteristics==
The software treats all page titles as beginning with a capital letter (unless the first character is not a letter). For information on how to display article titles beginning with lower-case letters (as in [[eBay|{{xt|eBay}}]]), or category titles (as in {{xt|[[:Category:macOS]]}}) see {{section link|WP:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)#Lowercase first letter}}.

However, when you create a link with the first letter of the link uncapitalized, as in [[swimming pool|{{xt|swimming pool}}]], the first letter of the {{em|target page}} is automatically capitalized in the URL by the software, thus going to the article [[Swimming pool]] in this example. However, the remainder of the link (after the initial character) {{em|is}} case-sensitive.

Searching using the <kbd>Go</kbd> or <kbd>Search</kbd> button is, generally speaking, case-insensitive. It is not necessary to create redirects from alternative capitalizations, unless editors are likely to link from the differently capitalized form. For example, [[National Park|{{xt|National Park}}]] should be created as a redirect to [[National park]], but it is unnecessary to create {{!xt|Isle of wight}} as a redirect to [[Isle of Wight]]. Many such redirects do nevertheless exist, and these are harmless; the only indication to the reader is a small message of the form "(redirected from [[Isle of wight]])". You can use a page-views analysis tool to determine whether a significant number of people ever look for the variant you are thinking of creating a redirect for,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&range=latest-20&pages=Isle_of_wight|title=Pageviews Analysis|website=tools.wmflabs.org}}</ref> or what the frequency of one version is versus another.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tools.wmflabs.org/pageviews/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&range=latest-20&pages=National_Park|title=Pageviews Analysis|website=tools.wmflabs.org}}</ref>

==Specific topics and examples==
===Page names that differ only by capitalization===
{{see also|WP:Article titles#Precision and disambiguation}}
It is occasionally acceptable to create two articles (on different topics) with titles that differ only in capitalization, such as [[Blackberry]] and [[BlackBerry]]. If this arises, place a [[Wikipedia:Hatnote|hatnote]] at the top of each page, linking each to a dedicated disambiguation page or to the other article. It is also acceptable to use names that are differentiated in other ways; which approach should be taken may vary from case to case, balancing such considerations as the risk of confusion in using one set of names against the departure from brevity and common usage in using the other.<!--for an RfC on this topic, see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (precision)/Archive -->

===Titles of works===
{{see also|WP:Manual of Style/Titles#Capital letters}}
In general, each word in English titles of [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)|books]], [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films)|films]], and other works takes an initial capital, except for articles ("a", "an", "the"), the word "to" as part of an infinitive, and prepositions and coordinating conjunctions shorter than five letters (e.g., "on", "from", "and", "with"), unless they begin or end a title or subtitle.  Examples: [[A New Kind of Science|{{xt|''A New Kind of Science''}}]], [[Ghost in the Shell|{{xt|''Ghost in the Shell''}}]], [[To Be or Not to Be|{{xt|''To Be or Not to Be''}}]], [[The World We Live In|{{xt|''The World We Live In''}}]]. {{crossref|(For details, see [[WP:Manual of Style/Titles#Capital letters|the main guideline on title capitalization]].  For non-English titles, see [[#Works and compositions|below]].)}}

===Organisms===
<!-- This section summarizes three other guidelines. Please DO NOT CHANGE IT without consensus at those other pages first. -->
{{See also|WP:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms|WP:Naming conventions (fauna)|WP:Naming conventions (flora)}}
English common names of species and of general types of organisms are not capitalized, and article titles about them are sentence-cased, except where [[proper names]] appear and are capitalized: [[Bottlenose dolphin|{{xt|Bottlenose dolphin}}]], [[Livestock guardian dog|{{xt|Livestock guardian dog}}]], [[Red oak|{{xt|Red oak}}]], but [[Small Indian civet|{{xt|Small Indian civet}}]].  Redirects should be created from the alternative capitalized form(s), e.g., {{xt|[[Bottlenose Dolphin]]}}, and from plural forms of each spelling.

===Capitalization of expressions borrowed from other languages===
{{see also|WP:Naming conventions (use English)|Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Foreign terms}}
For French, see for instance {{section link|WP:Manual of Style/France and French-related#Capitalization}}. In French, the capitalization rules (for books, works of art, and many other topics) are different from those in English. The situation is further complicated by [[loanword]]s, for example a French expression can be adopted in English (such that you'll find it in English dictionaries), but with a different capitalization:
* [[Art Nouveau|{{xt|Art Nouveau}}]] is how the name of a certain art movement is most often written in English; but {{lang|fr|italics=no|2=[[:fr:art nouveau|{{xtn|art nouveau}}]]}}<!--Don't italicize here; this is an illustration of how French would be written in a French text, not of French as used in an English text.--> is how it is written in French.

====Expressions====
For expressions borrowed from other languages a two-step approach is advised (example explained for expressions borrowed from French):
* Check whether or not a French expression has been adopted in English as a loan word: if it is, follow the usual English capitalization rules, as explained in other parts of this page.
* If the French expression is untranslated (not a loanword), follow French capitalization practice. For French: some expressions are not capitalized at all (e.g., {{lang|fr|[[:fr:fin de siècle|{{xt|fin de siècle}}]]}}), others have a capitalization of the first word.
For Spanish, German, and any language usually written in the Latin alphabet, something similar applies. For German, nouns are capitalized, so German nouns that have not been adopted into English are capitalized and shown in italics (using a language tag).

====Works and compositions====
{{anchor|Works of art|reason=Old, too-specific section name.}}
{{see also|WP:Manual of Style/Titles#Capitalization in foreign-language titles|WP:Naming conventions (music)#Capitalization of generic names|WP:Naming conventions (operas)}}
If the article is about a creative or academic work (such as a book or other written work, movie, album, song, or composition) with a title in a foreign language, or by a non-English-speaking creator, retain the style of the original for modern works. For historical works, follow the dominant usage in modern, English-language, [[Wikipedia:Identifying reliable sources|reliable sources]].

====Place names====
{{see also|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)}}

==Examples==
* Multiword articles: [[Practical joke|{{xt|Practical joke}}]], [[Particle physics|{{xt|Particle physics}}]], [[1993 Russian constitutional crisis|{{xt|1993 Russian constitutional crisis}}]]
* Proper names: [[North America|{{xt|North America}}]], [[William Shakespeare|{{xt|William Shakespeare}}]], [[Eurovision Song Contest|{{xt|Eurovision Song Contest}}]]
* Proper names within article titles: [[History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)|{{xt|History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991)}}]], [[Politics of the United States|{{xt|Politics of the United States}}]]
* [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (books)|Titles of books]] and other works: [[A New Kind of Science|{{xt|''A New Kind of Science''}}]], [[Ghost in the Shell|{{xt|''Ghost in the Shell''}}]], [[Oliver Twist|{{xt|''Oliver Twist''}}]]. Such titles often need to be italicized; {{crossref|see {{section link|WP:Article titles#Italics and other formatting}} for information on when and how to italicize article titles}}.

==See also==
* {{sectionlink|Wikipedia:Article titles|Article title format}} – relevant policy
* [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters]] – guideline
* [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks]] – guideline
* [[Wikipedia:Moving a page]] – how-to
* [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums (capital letters)]] – essay

==Notes==
{{reflist}}