Proper Noun Examples: 7 Types of Proper Nouns

A proper noun is a noun that refers to a particular person, place, or thing. In the English language, the primary types of nouns are common and proper nouns, with the former term referring to things that are generalized, and the latter referring to specific named things. Proper nouns begin with a capital letter.

Proper nouns refer to specific people, places, and things, and common nouns are generic names for people, places, and things. In the sentence, “Meet me at the park tomorrow and bring your dog,” “park” and “dog” are common nouns. You might clarify the sentence by adding proper nouns: “Meet me at McGolrick Park tomorrow and bring Rufus.” In this example, “McGolrick Park” is the name of a particular park, and “Rufus” is the proper name of a dog.

Proper names include specific people, places, days of the week, brands, and titles:

1. 1. Names: Proper nouns, or proper names, include people. Pets’ names are also proper nouns and require capitalization.
2. 2. Titles of people: Proper nouns also include titles of people, like Queen Victoria and President Abraham Lincoln.
3. 3. Places: Another category of proper noun refers to specific places, including countries, states, cities, and particular locations. Examples include England, Santiago, South Street Seaport, and Ebbets Field.
4. 4. Calendar days: In English grammar, months and days of the week are proper nouns, like September and Thursday. Although the months of the year are proper nouns, the seasons are not and are thus not capitalized. For example, “September is my favorite month, because it marks the beginning of autumn.”
5. 5. Holidays: Holidays, such as Labor Day and Hanukkah, are proper nouns.
6. 6. Brand and company names: Brand names and company names are also proper nouns and are capitalized.
7. 7. Titles of works: Proper nouns include titles of specific works of art and literature, such as The Thinker and Romeo and Juliet, and also publications, like The New York Times. In titles of art or literary works, the important words are capitalized. Conjunctions and articles less than four words are lowercase, unless they are the first word in the title. For example, The Merchant of Venice and Pride and Prejudice.

In an English sentence, the singular, first-person pronoun “I” is always capitalized, but it is a pronoun—not a proper noun. You also capitalize proper adjectives, but they are not proper nouns. For example, in the sentence “I want a French croissant,” “French” is a proper adjective that modifies “croissant.”

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