# Proper Nouns Starting With Lower Case Letters Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 15, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894 "2009-02-15T01:22:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894/1 "2009-02-15T01:22:07Z")

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This has probably been asked before but I couldn’t find it. So if it has please feel free to link me to that discussion

Anyway…

I was wondering now that some proper names like eBay, a-ha (musical group) or 's-Gravenhage (The Hague) start with lower case letters.

Now if you begin a sentence with them do you capitalize the first letter, which is normally lowercase?

I have a feeling is, “In this case rewrite the sentence so it doesn’t start with that word” but I figured I’d ask.

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**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894/2 "2009-02-15T02:35:38Z")

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> [@Markxxx](#):
>
> This has probably been asked before but I couldn’t find it. So if it has please feel free to link me to that discussion…

Yes, just last week, actually. 🙂

[A Question About Upper-Case and Lower-Case](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=505324&)

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**Author:** ![Ddms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c89c15/32.png) [@Ddms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ddms)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894/3 "2011-01-30T03:01:21Z")

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There ought to be a way to start a sentence with iTunes or duMaurier without having to use an uneconomical and awkward construction.

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**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894/4 "2011-01-30T05:11:10Z")

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This is the thing iTunes did to us.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/proper-nouns-starting-with-lower-case-letters-question/485894/5 "2011-01-30T16:05:10Z")

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Since the question appears to have been answered in a previous thread(link in Post #2), let’s close this zombie.

**samclem** , Moderator