# Capitalization rules for titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909 "2008-01-09T22:31:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/1 "2008-01-09T22:31:40Z")
Having a bit of a disagreement on rules regarding the capitalization of titles (e.g. “President Bush” _or_ “…the president will address Congress.”). I believe the above follows proper style guidelines. The issue however is as follows: ## We are listing people’s name and occupation on a website and it will take the following form: JOHN SMITH Occupation: president and ceo ## Location: Chicago, IL For the occupation should those titles be capitalized? It would seem from the style guidelines that those titles should not be capitalized but it looks…wrong…to me (not that my gut reaction is a reliable measure but still). ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/2 "2008-01-09T22:35:23Z")
CEO is always capitalized because it is an acronym. IMO, president should be capitilized in that situation because it is the first word of a “sentence”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/3 "2008-01-09T22:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] CEO is always capitalized because it is an acronym. IMO, president should be capitilized in that situation because it is the first word of a “sentence”. [/QUOTE] Nitpick: it’s not an acryonym, it’s an abbreviation. I don’t think you really _have_ to capitalize president in that “sentence” since it isn’t actually a sentence and the word isn’t being applied to a person’s name there, but it looks better if you do. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/4 "2008-01-09T22:53:49Z")
Just to muddy the waters (since I just ran across this): * * * JOHN SMITH ## Occupation: Managing director So…does “director” get capitalized in this case? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/5 "2008-01-09T22:55:25Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Nitpick: it’s not an acryonym, it’s an abbreviation. [/QUOTE] I’ve heard it called an initialism since it does not form a word (like laser or scuba) but I believe it is supposed to be capitalized (all letters). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/6 "2008-01-09T23:15:50Z")
[QUOTE=Whack-a-Mole] Having a bit of a disagreement on rules regarding the capitalization of titles (e.g. “President Bush” _or_ “…the president will address Congress.”). [/quote] Didn’t you learn from that _there are no rules_! 🙂 There are _styles_. You can adopt any style you want as long as you’re consistent with it. My personal feeling is that \*not \* capitalizing titles in a database is just silly. Acronyms should always be capitalized unless there is good reason not to. > [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > Nitpick: it’s not an acryonym, it’s an abbreviation. This is pedanic silliness as well, IMO. The use of acronym in cases like CEO has passed into current usage. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/7 "2008-01-10T00:27:41Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] You can adopt any style you want as long as you’re consistent with it. [/QUOTE] This is really the crux of it. I’ve written style manuals for several companies, and included contradictory rules in each. It depends upon the local culture. But once you’ve chosen a style, you need to stick to it, and most companies need someone to enforce it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/8 "2008-01-10T00:56:08Z")
Generally, job titles, when given in association with a name, would get initial capitals – not when it’s a reference to the role qua role. Mary Smith, Assistant Manager _But_ – Mary and the other assistant managers attended a meeting called by Jane Jones, the company’s Vice President for Finance. This is basically in line with the paradigm in the first sentence of your OP. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalization-rules-for-titles/432909/9 "2008-01-10T03:04:09Z")
Whether or not an occupational title is capitalized depends entirely on whether the organization wants to do it. Having said that, I have _never_ seen any organization, large or small, that didn’t capitalize every title they could, from president right down to administrative assistant.