Is there a definitive answer to this capitalization conundrum?
While trying to answer co-worker’s question last week, I unearthed a contentious capitalization conundrum. (Try saying that 10 times fast.) And much like the wrangling over the serial comma, or for that matter, capitalization, this debate does not appear to have an easy answer.
The question: do you capitalize a lowercase brand name if the brand name is used at the beginning of a sentence? Here are a couple examples:
eBay has a fabulous collection of vintage tube tops.
iTunes must now compete with Amazon’s Prime Music.
The Chicago Manual of Style has this to say: “Brand names or names of companies that are spelled with a lowercase initial letter followed by a capital letter (eBay, iPod, iPhone, etc.) need not be capitalized at the beginning of a sentence or heading, though some editors may prefer to reword.”
That wasn’t always its rule, though:
“This departure from Chicago’s former usage recognizes not only the preferred usage of the owners of most such names but also the fact that such spellings are already capitalized (if only on the second letter). Company or product names with additional, internal capitals (sometimes called ‘midcaps’) should likewise be left unchanged (GlaxoSmithKline, HarperCollins, LexisNexis).”
On the other hand, The Associated Press Stylebook states that writers must capitalize the first letter – Ipad, Iphone, Ebay – because one simply cannot start a sentence with lowercase letter.
Wikipedia’s Manual of Style suggests rephrasing to avoid beginning sentences with initial lower case names.
eBay has a fabulous collection of vintage tube tops.
I found a fabulous collection of vintage tube tops on eBay.
iTunes must now compete with Amazon’s Prime Music.
Apple’s iTunes must now compete with Amazon’s Prime Music.
While I was researching the answer to this question, I found some very compelling arguments for and against capitalizing lower case brand names at the beginning of a sentence. Many view the rule to capitalize the first word of a sentence as immutable, insisting that no company has the ability to change the basic rules of grammar.
Others pointed out that there are established precedents for last names that begin with lower case letters, such as de or von. For example, would you change von Trapp to Von Trapp if it was used at the beginning of a sentence? Thus, similar exceptions could be made for brand or product names.
PR Daily readers, what do you think? Do brand names supersede centuries-old capitalization rules?
This article was first published on Ragan Communication’s PR Daily.
