Why do the French capitalize each letter of their last names?

March 19, 2008 3:40 PM

Why do the French capitalize each letter of their last names?

I've noticed that in business correspondence, schoolwork, return addresses on informal letters, etc. the French capitalize each letter of their last names, e.g., Captain CRUNCH, Chester CHEETAH. Why is this so?

posted by December to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

I believe that the practice extends well beyond France, and is intended to indicate which name or names constitutes the person's surname. Since some people have several names, the surname might not otherwise be obvious.
posted by sueinnyc at 3:46 PM on March 19, 2008

Sueinnyc is right. On the other hand, we don't do it in Quebec. But a practice we have in common with the French is to put sur(last)name before first name on forms, which (as far as I can tell), is not the case in the US...
posted by bluefrog at 3:51 PM on March 19, 2008

Spaniards do this as well. I assume it is a formal way of emphasizing the last name to avoid any confusion.
posted by JJ86 at 3:54 PM on March 19, 2008

I've noticed this as well in correspondence with people in both Hungary and China. Particularly when some languages present the family name before the given name, it helps to clarify which convention people are using and therefore which name is which.
posted by bassjump at 4:11 PM on March 19, 2008

As someone who corresponds with people in all points of the globe on a daily basis I approve of this practice. It greatly reduces the blunders of addressing them as Dr. . Thankfully, most hold doctoral degrees so I can escape with the unisex "Dr." Anyway, I think that is one of the reasons for the practice itself. To a foreigner, which portion of the name is the family name is not always clear, but this clarifies matters.
posted by caddis at 4:14 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also Italy
posted by Flashman at 4:14 PM on March 19, 2008

"But a practice we have in common with the French is to put sur(last)name before first name on forms, which (as far as I can tell), is not the case in the US..."

Most forms in the US are surname first; it's certainly not an absolute rule, but enough that I do get caught off-guard when my surname doesn't come first.
posted by Tomorrowful at 5:09 PM on March 19, 2008

Some international-type official documents do this too, or at least, all the immigration paperwork I get to see does. It is more common outside the US in general, not just Europe, but anywhere with a relatively large bureaucracy, I think.

It is very, very useful when dealing internationally, and in general when dealing with large volumes of unfamiliar names, and so I've started using it myself in the last year.
posted by cobaltnine at 5:20 PM on March 19, 2008

As others have said, it's not a French thing, it's a device used in much (most?) international correspondence to specify which name of three or four is the conventional surname, the one you might formally use with Mr, Ms, Dr, etc...

It's the "file under" name.
posted by rokusan at 5:35 PM on March 19, 2008

And to be really pedantic, that's not capitalization, that's uppercasing. ;)
posted by rokusan at 5:36 PM on March 19, 2008

It also removes any issues with irregular capitalization, in names like "McDonald", etc.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:22 PM on March 19, 2008