When to Capitalize Kinship Names | Britannica Dictionary (2024)

FAQs

When to Capitalize Kinship Names | Britannica Dictionary? ›

However, if you use the word grandma as if it were a name, or in place of the name of the person, it should be capitalized. This is true for all kinship names, which are words like brother, sister, father, mom, grandma, cousin, and aunt.

When you use a word to indicate a family relationship, it should be capitalized if it's used as a proper noun. For instance, “Grandpa” or “Uncle Bob.” However, if you aren't referring to that person by name, then it wouldn't need to be capitalized.

So go ahead and capitalize the names of those important family members in your life, but remember not to capitalize when using a possessive pronoun or talking about family in general.

Are capital letters used for terms of endearment like “honey” and “sweetheart”? No. Not unless they are part of a nickname like, maybe 'Sweetheart Sue'. If you are just saying, “I love you, honey” then no capital is required.

When terms denoting family relationships are used as proper nouns (as names), they are capitalized. However, when the terms are used as common nouns (not as names), they're not capitalized.

However, if you use the word grandma as if it were a name, or in place of the name of the person, it should be capitalized. This is true for all kinship names, which are words like brother, sister, father, mom, grandma, cousin, and aunt.

CAPITALIZING ORGANISM NAMES. In the Latin scientific names of organisms, names at the species level and below (species, subspecies, variety) are not capitalized; those at the genus level and above (e.g., genus, tribe, subfamily, family, class, order, division, phylum) are capitalized.

If you are talking about one person and his name is Smith and you are referring to his family, then it is fine. If you are referring to a family whose last name is Smith, then you would say “the Smiths” (no apostrophe) or “the Smith family.” Are you talking about a family named Smith? The Smith family lives next door.

The MLA Style Center

In our publications, we follow the recommendations in The Chicago Manual of Style (“Generation”). We generally lowercase generation names such as baby boomers and millennials, but we capitalize generation names that include letters, such as Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z.

Capitalize terms for family relationships only when the name of a person follows, when they are unmodified, or when they are used in direct address: You inherited your keen eyes from Grandfather Smith.

Do you capitalize sweetie or honey? ›

Kathy Ide, a writing consultant says to always use lowercase for terms like honey, sweetheart, dear, etc., but the Chicago Manual of Style (which is used by many publishers), says to use uppercase when it takes the place of a name.

Generally, no. The vast majority of the time, "daddy" is a title. Titles are not capitalized. "The president's men," "the king's horses," "daddy's girl."

In English, a capital letter is used for the first word of a sentence and for all proper nouns (words that name a specific person, place, organization, or thing). In some cases, capitalization is also required for the first word in a quotation and the first word after a colon.

Words that indicate family relationships should also be capitalized when used as titles in front of a person's name. However, if you're just talking about relationships with no names involved, the titles shouldn't be capitalized.

Titles of family relations: Uncle Joe (don't capitalize my uncle, but capitalize Uncle when it is used with a name); Aunt Emma (don't capitalize aunt, but capitalize Aunt when it is used with a name).

Yes, you should capitalize “the” if it is a part of a title/name even if it is in the middle of a sentence.

“Family” and “friends” are treated as proper nouns in salutations, signifying that they represent the names of the people you are addressing. The following examples demonstrate the proper capitalization in greeting etiquette: Dear Family and Friends, Thank you for joining us on our special day.

The noun "family" is usually a common noun, but it can be used as a proper noun as well. This sentence uses "family" as a common noun: "My family goes on vacation every June." When "family" is used as part of the name of a family, as in "Smith Family" or "Li Family," it is being used as a proper noun.

Proper nouns include the specific names of people, places, and things. Names of racial and ethnic groups are treated as proper nouns, which means they are capitalized (e.g., African American, Asian American, Black, European American, First Nations, Hispanic, Native American, Latinx, White).