Grammar

Repeat after me: If we speak that way, it’s okay to write that way.

GrammarBook.com

•Latino surnames often comprise both the maternal and paternal family name

It’s a widely accepted standard that job titles (e.g., president, governor, editor-in-chief) should be capitalized when they directly precede a person’s name and lowercased when they do not: The pope visited New York, but Pope Francis gave blessings to New Yorkers

•Bantu names (East/Southern Africa) typically place the family name first and given name second.

For a noun or other word that traditionally wouldn’t take a verb form, use a hyphen plus ing to create the verb form if the word ends in a vowel

the names of edible things that are derived from a proper noun (usually a geographic location, sometimes a person’s name)—especially when the item in question consists solely of the proper noun (e.g., Brie, as opposed to Brussels sprouts)—are typically capitalized.

Arabic names are often formatted as personal name + father’s first name + paternal grandfather’s first name, each sometimes offset with bin or ibn (meaning “son of”) or bint (“daughter of”).

Exceptions to this: •Corporation or brand names that are pluralized, e.g., General Motors’