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A proper noun, also known as a proper name, is capitalized to indicate that it denotes a unique entity or phenomenon. Many entities or phenomena are widely known by their names. Sometimes, however, writers misunderstand or misrepresent the label. Here are five examples of proper nouns that illustrate the importance of verifying precise nomenclature and considering the context in which it is used.
1. Big Ben
This is the official nickname, specifically, of the bell in the Elizabeth Tower, the iconic structure often used as a visual shortcut to identifying London in photographs, on television, and in films. (The tower, previously called simply the Clock Tower, was renamed in 2012 in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.) However, popularly, the phrase generally refers to the clock in the tower or the tower itself.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
This US government agency’s official name is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but it retains the initials, CDC, of its previous designation, the Centers for Disease Control; note that the first word is plural. (A similar example is the name of the National Institutes — not Institute — of Health.)
3. Halley’s Comet
The technical name for this peanut-shaped orbiting body roughly the size of a big-league Himalayan mountain is Comet Halley. (actually, 1P/Halley is its astronomy-catalog designation.) Because of its relative familiarity, however, due to unusually frequent reappearances (roughly every seventy-five years), it is also called Halley’s Comet.
The traditional pronunciation among astronomers rhymes with alley, but, perhaps as a result of contamination from the name of the seminal rock-and-roll band Bill Haley and the Comets, most laypeople pronounce it to rhyme with daily. (No one knows how discoverer Edmund Halley pronounced his name, but I’d give the odds to the stargazers’ convention.)
4. New York
The largest US city is popularly called New York (the official name is “the City of New York”), but writers should determine whether, depending on the context, it should be referred to as New York City to distinguish it from New York State. (In this designation, and in “Washington State” — so as not to confuse the state with Washington, DC — state is capitalized even though it’s not part of the state’s official name.)
5. Sierra Nevada
The name of the mountain range forming the backbone of California — a name shared by several other ranges throughout the world — from the Spanish phrase meaning “snowy mountains,” should not be pluralized with the letter s, and “the Sierra Nevada Mountains” is partially redundant. (The same is true of the truncation “the Sierras”; call it “the Sierra.”)
Many other geographical designations are redundant: Fujiyama translates as “Mount Fuji”; the words sahara, gobi, and negev all mean “desert”; and the first word in “Rio Grande,” as well as Avon and Don — the names for rivers in England and Russia, respectively — means “river.” Although it’s not wrong to use the word mount, desert, or river before or after the name of a geographic feature that means “mountain,” “desert,” or “river,” the common noun can often safely be omitted (for example, “Fujiyama,” “the Sahara,” and “the Rio Grande”). Note, too, that river, when it precedes a river’s name (for example, “the river Nile”), is always descriptive and not part of the name.
1. Big Ben
This is the official nickname, specifically, of the bell in the Elizabeth Tower, the iconic structure often used as a visual shortcut to identifying London in photographs, on television, and in films. (The tower, previously called simply the Clock Tower, was renamed in 2012 in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.) However, popularly, the phrase generally refers to the clock in the tower or the tower itself.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
This US government agency’s official name is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but it retains the initials, CDC, of its previous designation, the Centers for Disease Control; note that the first word is plural. (A similar example is the name of the National Institutes — not Institute — of Health.)
3. Halley’s Comet
The technical name for this peanut-shaped orbiting body roughly the size of a big-league Himalayan mountain is Comet Halley. (actually, 1P/Halley is its astronomy-catalog designation.) Because of its relative familiarity, however, due to unusually frequent reappearances (roughly every seventy-five years), it is also called Halley’s Comet.
The traditional pronunciation among astronomers rhymes with alley, but, perhaps as a result of contamination from the name of the seminal rock-and-roll band Bill Haley and the Comets, most laypeople pronounce it to rhyme with daily. (No one knows how discoverer Edmund Halley pronounced his name, but I’d give the odds to the stargazers’ convention.)
4. New York
The largest US city is popularly called New York (the official name is “the City of New York”), but writers should determine whether, depending on the context, it should be referred to as New York City to distinguish it from New York State. (In this designation, and in “Washington State” — so as not to confuse the state with Washington, DC — state is capitalized even though it’s not part of the state’s official name.)
5. Sierra Nevada
The name of the mountain range forming the backbone of California — a name shared by several other ranges throughout the world — from the Spanish phrase meaning “snowy mountains,” should not be pluralized with the letter s, and “the Sierra Nevada Mountains” is partially redundant. (The same is true of the truncation “the Sierras”; call it “the Sierra.”)
Many other geographical designations are redundant: Fujiyama translates as “Mount Fuji”; the words sahara, gobi, and negev all mean “desert”; and the first word in “Rio Grande,” as well as Avon and Don — the names for rivers in England and Russia, respectively — means “river.” Although it’s not wrong to use the word mount, desert, or river before or after the name of a geographic feature that means “mountain,” “desert,” or “river,” the common noun can often safely be omitted (for example, “Fujiyama,” “the Sahara,” and “the Rio Grande”). Note, too, that river, when it precedes a river’s name (for example, “the river Nile”), is always descriptive and not part of the name.
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