Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Not an author yet? Have questions? Post here!

Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant

Locked
GeorgeDickson
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:44 pm

Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by GeorgeDickson »

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping someone might be able to shed some light on this:

I'm writing an article about a company whose name is spelled in all lowercase. On the company's official website the name is in lowercase, but several other references to the company are capitalized in standard format (including those on my customer's page).

Would it make more sense to follow convention, or to follow the company's lead? I don't want my customer (or Ed) to think I simply forgot to capitalize the name. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Ed
Posts: 4686
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:15 pm

Re: Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by Ed »

It makes sense to capitalize the first letter of the name unless more deviant capitalization is preferred (iPhone, eBay). One author mentioned that "adidas" is spelled with a lowercase letter, but following this standard in writing just makes the author appear remiss and doesn't draw the proper amount of attention to the proper noun.

Thanks,
Ed
GeorgeDickson
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:44 pm

Re: Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by GeorgeDickson »

Thank you Ed! Your forum posts have helped me more times than I can count.

George
Ed
Posts: 4686
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:15 pm

Re: Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by Ed »

My pleasure.
misstamla
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:40 am

Re: Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by misstamla »

Does anyone else get annoyed by companies who have their company name in lowercase? I don't understand why they don't want the name to stand out. I am glad that Ed has said we should follow tradition and capitalise the names; it just makes more sense!

Kathy
philton
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:18 am

Re: Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by philton »

I don't get annoyed, ive worked for many large blue chip and entertainment companies and their conventional wisdom is that lower case company names are actually easier to remember,plus it's seen as cool :-)
misstamla
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:40 am

Re: Referring to a company whose name is in lowercase

Post by misstamla »

Hi Philton

Thanks for your post. At least I now know why they do it! Obviously, I'm just not cool enough!
Locked