When to Capitalize People’s Titles
When should you capitalize someone’s title? I get this question quite often so here are some guidelines:
Rule: Capitalize a person’s title when it follows the name on the address or signature line.
Examples:
Sincerely, Margaret Haines, Chairperson
Margaret Haines, Chairperson
1234 South Wallace St.
Portland, OR 97232
Rule: Capitalize the titles of high-ranking government officials when used with or before their names.
Do not capitalize the civil title if it is used instead of the name.
Examples:
The president will address Congress.
All senators are expected to attend.
The governors, lieutenant governors, and attorneys general called for a special task force.
Governor Connelly, Lieutenant Governor Martinez, and Senators James and Hennessy will attend the meeting.
Rule: Capitalize a title when used as a direct address even when the person is not named.
Examples:
Will you be holding a press conference, Madame President?
Please give us your opinion of this latest development, Senator.
We need your response quickly, Mr. President.
We need your response quickly, President Obama.
Will you help me with my homework, Dad?
Posted on Thursday, October 14th, 2010 at 10:35 am
22 Responses to “When to Capitalize People’s Titles”
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Pardon, but whenever referring to the President of the United States, one always uses a capital. When has this changed?
This blog follows the rules of The Chicago Manual of Style. According to Rule 8.1, “Proper nouns are usually capitalized, as are some of the terms derived from or associated with proper nouns. For the latter, Chicago’s preference is for sparing use of capitals—what is sometimes referred to as a “down” style. Although Brussels (the Belgian city) is capitalized, Chicago prefers brussels sprouts—which are not necessarily from Brussels (see 8.60). Likewise, President Obama is capitalized, but the president is not (see 8.18–32). (In certain nonacademic contexts—e.g., a press release—such terms as president may be capitalized.”)
Hi Jane:
This is a perennial question around here: if you capitalize the names of departments, i.e., History Department, then how do you express the title of the department chair:
Joe Smith, chair of the History Department or
Joe Smith, chair of the history deparment
This becomes even more problematic when you’re dealing with titles like head of school vs head of School.
HELP!
As long as chair, chairman, chairwoman, chairperson, head of school, etc. are all considered job titles, simply follow the two rules:
Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately preceding the name when used as part of the name.
Rule: Capitalize job titles immediately following the name when the word the does not appear in front of the job title.
Therefore:
Joe Smith, Chair of the History Department, will be speaking to . . .
Joe Smith, the chair of the History Department, will be speaking to . . .
Mary Jones, Head of School, is asking all parents to . . .
Mary Jones, the head of school, is asking all parents to . . .
What about this? “The president of our country lives in the White House.”
There are two grammar rules which apply to your sentence. According to Rule 5 in the “Capitalization” section, “Capitalize the titles of high-ranking government officials when used before their names. Do not capitalize the civil title if it is used instead of the name.” Also, Rule 2 says, “Always capitalize a proper noun.” Since the word president is not used before a name, it is not capitalized. Because White House is a proper noun it should be capitalized. Therefore, “The president of our country lives in the White House.”
In a news release, is it John Smith, assistant FEMA admistrator for hurricanes- or – John Smith, Assistant FEMA Administartor for Huricanes
also
Joe Brown, U.S. Forest Service regional director – or – Joe Brown, U.S. Forest Service Regional Director
I would recommend following this rule from my blog “Capitalization of Job Titles.”
Capitalize job titles immediately following the name when the word the does not appear in front of the job title.
Therefore, John Smith, Assistant FEMA Administrator for Hurricanes and Joe Brown, U.S. Forest Service Regional Director would be correct.
Hi Jane,
Just so I’m clear, I would write: ” As vice president of operations, John Doe is responsible for..” rather than “As Vice President of Operations, John Doe, is responsible for..?”
Thanks.
Since the title is not part of the name, it does not need to be capitalized as long as John Doe does not insist it be capitalized (the “ego rule”).
(The ego rule) Yes, I’ve noticed that, too!Numerous ‘higher titles’ have corrected me when I use lowercase on titles as you have described above. I’ve given up to the ‘ego rule.’
That is a wise thing to do in the workplace!
My daughter’s fourth-grade teacher insists that some proper names, such as Grandma or Dad, are not capitalized. For example, “Last week, grandma took us out for dinner.” Grandma is not capitalized, according to the teacher. In this example, isn’t Grandma considered a proper name, since it refers to a specific person?
Yes, you are correct. When the word Grandma is used as a proper name it should be capitalized. “Last week Grandma took us out for dinner.” If you were to say, “Last week my grandma took us out for dinner,” then it would not be capitalized. The same goes for Dad, Mom, and Grandpa.
I have a question similar to Linda’s. Working in a law office, I get conflicting instruction on the capitalization of the word plaintiff. My belief is when the sentence is something like, “As you can see, the plaintiff has no evidence of…” it is lowercase. But in this sentence, “As you can see, Plaintiff has no evidence of…”, it is uppercase. Is that correct? Or is plaintiff always lowercase as some of my colleagues suggest?
Your understanding of the grammar rules is correct, however, it is my understanding that there are specific rules for legal documents. I suggest consulting The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, published by the Harvard Law Review Association.
Should we capitalize Boards and not independent directors, as follows? Thanks
“The Boards and the independent directors hereby determine…”
The Chicago Manual of Style says, “The full names of administrative bodies are capitalized. Adjectives derived from them are usually lowercased, as are many of the generic names for such bodies when used alone.” Therefore, “The boards and the independent directors hereby determine…”
I have a question about place names:
Yosemite National Park and Glacier National Park – these are all capitalized…but is it:
Yosemite and Glacier National Parks or Yosemite and Glacier national parks?
Yosemite and Glacier National Parks
Hello,
I was wondering if this capitalization is correct:
“Mrs. Jane Doe is the Dean of Students.”
or is it:
“Mrs. Jane Doe is the dean of students.”
Thanks!
Since it is not part of her name you do not need to capitalize.
Mrs. Jane Doe is the dean of students.