Proper Nouns

Proper nouns are a special type of names. In fact, when someone asks us our name, it is such a type of name we use in reply, i.e. Paul or Mohandas or Teresa or any such name.

• Names of people — like those just mentioned;
• Brand names — like Penguin Books, Tata Indica, Lux or Dell;
• Geographical names — Asia, River Nile, Mount Everest, the British Isles;
• Names of institutions — St. Michael’s School, Bank of England, European Union;
• Names of books and films — Utopia, Wuthering Heights, My Fair Lady.

Names of this kind are called Proper Nouns.

Capitalization

See that in the examples above the first letter of every proper name is a capital (upper case) letter.

This is the convention in English.

Sometimes, this can be a problem. What about those proper names which have more than one word in them?

See this…

South Africa, West Bengal, South Korea, North Korea, Western Australia and East Timor, but…

north Kerala, eastern Australia, southern Europe, and even eastern South Africa.

The 'South' in South Africa and South Korea is part of the official names of these places. The 'north' in Kerala and the 'eastern' in Australia just tell us which part of Kerala or Australia we are talking about.

Even if you remember all the 'rules' or conventions about capitalization, you will still find educated people and reputed newspapers using their own set of rules.

My advice is this...

• Be consistent in what you write, i.e. follow the same set of rules, at least within the same piece of writing.

• When you write for others, e.g. a newspaper, follow their set of rules, which they have compiled in their style book.

Do proper nouns have singular and plural forms?

No.

They are supposed to be unique names.

We don't ordinarily say that two Peters or two Anns have come to see you. We do say that two men or two women have come to see you.

Do these nouns have a possessive case form?

Yes, they do.

We can say: Peter's money or Ann's house.

From proper nouns to types of nouns
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