How Do You Capitalize the First Letter of Every Word?

Quick answer: Paste your text and press Capitalize Each Word. Every word then opens with a capital and the remaining letters are lowered, so wireless bluetooth headphones with noise cancelling becomes Wireless Bluetooth Headphones With Noise Cancelling. To keep existing capitals inside words, use Each Word, keep the rest instead.

This style is often called proper case or initial caps, and it differs from title case because even short words like and, of and with get a capital.

First-letter capitalization comes in several flavours, and choosing the wrong one is the usual reason results look odd. All of them are here: every word, just the opening letter, sentence openers, or the start of each line in a list. Because ordinary capitalizers break surnames such as McDonald and O’Brien, and turn postcodes into nonsense, two dedicated tools handle names and addresses properly.

• 5 First-letter modes
• 20+ Surname particles handled
• 3 Postcode systems recognised
• 7 Capitalization formats

For UPPERCASE, lowercase, and coding cases as well, open the case converter.

Which First-Letter Option Should You Choose?

Option	Example result	Best for
Capitalize Each Word	Organic Green Tea Bags	Product names, menu items, list entries
Each Word, keep the rest	Buy The New iPhone Case	Text that already contains brand names
First letter only	Only the opening letter changes	A single sentence or caption
Each sentence	First point. Second point.	Paragraphs typed without capitals
Each line	Apples, Bananas, Oranges (one per line)	Shopping lists, bullet points

To capitalize only sentence starts and lower everything else, use the sentence case converter.

How Should Names Like McDonald and O’Brien Be Capitalized?

Surnames follow their own conventions. Irish names with O’ take a capital after the apostrophe, as in O’Brien and O’Connor. Scottish and Irish Mc names capitalize the letter after Mc, as in McDonald. Dutch, German, French, Italian, and Arabic particles such as van, von, de, da and al are usually lowercase in the middle of a full name, as in Ludwig van Beethoven, but take a capital when they start the name on their own. Hyphenated surnames capitalize both halves, and generational suffixes are written Jr., Sr or in Roman numerals such as III. The Name Capitalizer applies these rules to a whole list; Mac is left off by default because names like Mack and Macy would break.

How Do You Capitalize First Letters in Excel, Word and Code?

Where	How	Watch out for
Excel and Google Sheets	=PROPER(A2)	Gives McDonald and capitalizes after apostrophes in some cases
Microsoft Word	Change Case, Capitalize Each Word	Lowercases nothing, so CAPS stay CAPS
CSS	text-transform: capitalize	Changes the display only, not the stored text
Python	text.capitalize() for the first letter, text.title() for each word	title() turns don’t into Don’T
JavaScript	text.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + text.slice(1)	Only the first character of the string changes
PHP	ucfirst() for the first letter, ucwords() for each word	Does not lower the rest unless you call strtolower() first

Is Capitalizing Every Word the Same as Title Case?

No. Capitalizing every word gives And, Of and With a capital too, which is simple and predictable; it suits product names, spreadsheet columns and lists. Title case follows a style guide and keeps minor words lowercase in the middle of a headline. If you are formatting a headline for publication, use a title case tool; if you need every word to start with a capital, this page is the right choice.

Formatting a headline? The title case converter keeps minor words lowercase by style guide.

When Do You Need to Capitalize First Letters?

• Customer data: fix names typed in all capitals or all small letters.
• Mailing lists: make addresses look professional on labels.
• Online shops: give product titles a consistent look.
• Notes and lists: start every bullet with a capital.
• Captions: add the missing capital at the start of a sentence.
• Spreadsheets: clean columns before a mail merge.

Capitalization Terms Explained

Proper case

Every word begins with a capital and the rest are small.

Initial capital

A capital as the first letter of a word or sentence.

Name particle

A small word in a surname, such as van, de, or al.

Generational suffix

Jr., Sr or a Roman numeral that follows a name.

Drop cap

An oversized ornamental letter that opens a chapter or article.

Postcode

The UK and Canadian postal codes, written in capitals.

What Can This Capitalization Tool Do?

Five modes

Words, sentences, lines and more.

Selection

Capitalize just one part.

Acronyms safe

NASA stays in capitals.

Surnames

O’Brien, McDonald, van Gogh.

Addresses

Postcodes and state codes.

CSV export

Names ready for a spreadsheet.

Fixing a column of customer names?

Paste them in and get correctly capitalized surnames back as a CSV.

Mc Open the Name Capitalizer 

Capital Letters Landing in the Wrong Place?

Problem	Cause	Fix
iPhone became Iphone	Capitalize Each Word lowers the rest of every word	Keep the acronyms option ticked, or use Each Word, keep the rest
Mack became MacK	Mac was treated as a prefix	Untick the Mac option in the Name Capitalizer
van became Van in the middle of a name	The word was typed on its own line	Keep the full name on one line
A US state stayed as Ny	It is not followed by a ZIP code or the end of the line	Put the state at the end, before the ZIP code

Give names a stylish look with the font generator.

Tips for Capitalizing Names and Lists

Ask people how they spell it

Names like deLaurentis or MacLeod have personal spellings worth respecting.

Lower first for messy data

Text in random capitals gives the cleanest result when lowered before capitalizing.

One item per line

Lists capitalize most reliably when each entry has its own line.

Keep codes separate

Put SKUs and IDs in their own column so they are not changed.

Looking for a new name to capitalize? Try the nickname generator.

Capitalize First Letter FAQ

How do I capitalize the first letter of every word?

Paste the text and press Capitalize Each Word; every word gets an opening capital, and the rest is lowered.

Can I capitalize first letters without lowering the rest?

Yes. Each Word, keep the rest only raises the first letter and leaves other capitals alone.

How do I capitalize only the first letter of a sentence?

Choose each sentence. Any letter opening a new sentence, after . ? or !, is capitalized.

How do I capitalize the first letter of every line?

Press each line. It suits lists where every item sits on its own line.

What is proper case?

It is the name-style format: an opening capital on each word, small letters after it.

Is Capitalize Each Word the same as title case?

No. Title case leaves little connecting words small, whereas Capitalize Each Word gives them capitals as well.

How do I capitalize names like McDonald?

Use the Name Capitalizer. It capitalizes the letter after Mc and after O apostrophe, as in O’Brien.

Should van and de be capitalized in surnames?

Usually not in the middle of a full name, as in Vincent van Gogh, but yes when the surname stands alone.

How do I capitalize addresses correctly?

Paste them into the Address Capitalizer; streets and towns get capitals, and postcodes and state codes go fully uppercase.

What does the PROPER function do in Excel?

=PROPER(A2) returns the cell with an opening capital on each word and small letters elsewhere.

Why does PROPER give McDonald?

Excel only looks at word starts, so the letter after Mc stays small. The Name Capitalizer fixes this.

How do I capitalize the first letter in JavaScript?

Combine charAt(0).toUpperCase() with slice(1) to raise just the opening character.

What is the difference between capitalize() and title() in Python?

capitalize() raises the first letter of the string; title() raises the first letter of every word.

Can CSS capitalize each word?

Yes, text-transform: capitalize changes how words look on screen without changing the stored text.

Will acronyms stay in capitals?

Yes, as long as Keep acronyms and brands is ticked.

Is it possible to change just one section?

Yes. Highlight the part you want before pressing a button.

Can I undo a change?

Yes. Undo and Redo move back and forward through your changes.

Can I export the names as a spreadsheet?

Yes. Download .csv saves the capitalized names with a header row.

Is this capitalization tool free?

Yes. All five modes, the name fixer and the address fixer, are free with no account.

Is my data uploaded?

No. Your lists are handled entirely on this device; nothing is transmitted.

Does it work on phones and tablets?

Yes. Paste, tap a button, and copy; the layout adapts to small screens.

Capitalize First Letters

abc → Abc

Words, sentences, lines, names, and addresses. Aa Capitalize My Text