Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization)

This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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This page in a nutshell: Article titles should be in sentence case, not title case. Only the first word is capitalized, except for proper names.

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 capitalized, even mid-sentence.

This convention often also applies within the article body, as there is usually no good reason to use capitals. 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 buzzwords, which by capitalization are (improperly) given special emphasis.

For details on when to capitalize on Wikipedia, see the Wikipedia Manual of Style sections on capital letters and, when relevant, on trademarks. When in doubt, reliable reference works for capitalization conventions and other style matters may be useful.^[1] Note that all style guides conflict on some points; the Wikipedia MoS and naming conventions are a consensus-based balance between them, drawing primarily upon academic style, not journalistic or marketing/business styles, and taking into account Wikipedia-specific concerns.

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Current editions of some mainstream, general style references frequently used by MoS editors (current editions as of 2017):^[update]
- The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed., Chicago University Press, 2017)
- The Elements of Style (Strunk & White, 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)

[1] Current editions of some mainstream, general style references frequently used by MoS editors (current editions as of 2017):^[update]
The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed., Chicago University Press, 2017)

The Elements of Style (Strunk & White, 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)

[2] The Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed., Chicago University Press, 2017)

[3] The Elements of Style (Strunk & White, 4th ed., Longman, 1999)

[4] Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage (Butterfield, 4th ed., Oxford U. Press, 2015)

[5] Garner's Modern English Usage (4th ed., Oxford University Press, 2016)

[6] New Hart's Rules (Waddingham, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2015)

[1]