Titles and ranks: When to capitalize?

BethS · Jul 1, 2018

Lately I've been struggling with whether to capitalize titles and ranks.

Obviously it would be "Captain Willem" when the rank/title and name are mentioned together, but if the man is referenced without his name, should it be "the captain" or "the Captain"? Or what about royalty? Is Prince Valden "the prince" or "the Prince"?

I've searched around, and the answers I find seem to be dependent on personal taste and possibly which side of the pond you hail from, so maybe it's just a matter of choosing one style and sticking with it. I've been defaulting to lower case, except for the Emperor, who is only occasionally referenced and is not (so far) named. She's always just "the Emperor."

But I'm curious to know what people here think about it.

Fallen · Jul 1, 2018

Yeah, it can be down to style. If it helps, CMoS 8.18 (16th ed.) says:

Military titles
Generic usage without a name (lowercase): Send this to the captain and the president...
Direct address (uppercase): What's your order, Captain?
Tiltles with a name (uppercase): This is Captain Willem, commander of...

Rulers (8.22):

Willem ll, the emperor of Rome; the Roman emperor; the emporer

Nobility follows a similar pattern:

the prince, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales

(8.31)

talktidy · Jul 1, 2018

Argghh! Tell me about it.

I have a character who is a sort of emperor, though I call him something else. For the moment, while in first draft mode, I am sticking with capitalising his title wherever it crops up, but I am going to have fun sorting that out.

I am also grappling with whether "my lord" and "your grace" should be capitalised, too.

Yeah, I got nothing, but glad you raised the topic.

blacbird · Jul 1, 2018

Fallen said:
Yeah, it can be down to style. If it helps, CMoS 8.18 (16th ed.) says:

Military titles
Generic usage without a name (lowercase): Send this to the captain and the president...
Direct address (uppercase): What's your order, Captain?
Tiltles with a name (uppercase): This is Captain Willem, commander of...

Rulers (8.22):

Nobility follows a similar pattern:
(8.31)

One nuance to this: If the rank has become used in the story as a nickname, you would capitalize it, much like you would capitalize any other nickname. I am currently reading a novel where the mysterious bad guy is known simply as "the Prince".

caw

Woollybear · Jul 1, 2018

I've taken Fallen's approach (following my own research but probably yeah, the CMoS), with senator and Senator; chancellor and Chancellor.

But, Senate and Chancellery are, I believe, always capitalized.

The senator serves in the Senate.

BethS · Jul 1, 2018

blacbird said:
One nuance to this: If the rank has become used in the story as a nickname, you would capitalize it, much like you would capitalize any other nickname. I am currently reading a novel where the mysterious bad guy is known simply as "the Prince".

Yeah, that makes sense. I have one character known only as the Elder. I'm sure she has a name, but no one uses it, even if they know it.

Titles and ranks: When to capitalize?

BethS

Fallen

Stood at the coalface

talktidy

blacbird

Woollybear

BethS