As I was looking for some information on capitalization today, I did a double-take when I saw a listing in the Chicago Manual of Style for “Particles.” The only particles I studied in school were in the science courses…what could they be?
Here is what I found in the CMOS:
Names with particles
Many names include particles such as de, d’, de la, von, van, and ten. Practice with regard to capitalizing and spacing the particles varies widely, and confirmation should be sought in a biographical dictionary or other authoritative source. When the surname is used alone, the particle is usually retained, capitalized or lowercased and spaced as in the full name (though always capitalized when beginning a sentence). Le, La, and L’ are always capitalized when not preceded by de; the, which sometimes appears with the English form of a Native American name, is always lowercased.
Here are some examples listing the person’s full name, followed by the last name only:
Alfonse D’Amato; D’Amato
Diana DeGette; DeGette
Walter de la Mare; de la Mare
Thomas De Quincey; De Quincey
W. E. B. DuBois; DuBois
Daphne du Maurier; du Maurier
Robert M. La Follette Sr.; La Follette
John Le Carré; Le Carré
Pierre-Charles L’Enfant; L’Enfant
Anwar el-Sadat; Sadat
Abraham Ten Broeck; Ten Broeck
Robert van Gulik; van Gulik
Stephen Van Rensselaer; Van Rensselaer
Wernher von Braun; von Braun
If that’s not enough for you, CMOS has additional topics and rules for names in each of the following languages: French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese. I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that our everyday work no longer includes bibliographies!
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