Capitalization of Fantasy Race Names

I have struggled for some time with the conundrum of capitalization as it concerns the names of fantasy races. As a reader, I never paid the matter much thought; as a writer, the issue never seems to stop troubling me. If you are an avid fantasy reader, you may have picked up on a few contradictory patterns. If you are an avid science fiction reader, you might wonder what all the fuss is about — after all, in science fiction every alien species is capitalized (with the glaring exception of humans).

For me, the issue of whether or not to capitalize the name of fantasy races is primarily of concern to my fantasy world of Mythania, and this essay will use some examples from that setting. Regardless, I am confident that a full understanding of the problem and my proposed solutions will help many other aspiring fantasy writers, as well.

In science fiction we are often met with capitalization on the names of virtually every alien race. We need only to look at the diversity of alien races in Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, and other science fiction universes to see an almost universal convention of capitalizing the names of alien races. Even then, “human” is rarely capitalized, perhaps due to editors striking down any attempt to uppercase “Human” , and partially due to the fact that it just looks wrong after years of instruction to lower case it. A number of writers circumvent this heinous problem by employing the terms Earthling, Earther, or Terran in place of the word “human”.

Because of this universal convention of capitalizing alien race names in science fiction, I have tended to capitalize the names of my various fantasy races such as Eldren, Dworgh, Scaithi, and Ogrum. To me, it simply “felt right” and I was certain that capitalizing fantasy race names was undoubtedly correct. That is, it seemed correct until I realized that it would force me to capitalize “human” as well. This resulted in such odd looking sentences as: “it was clear to the Eldren that the Humans would not aid them holding back the Goblin onslaught.” Obviously, the word “humans” should not be capitalized here, or anywhere else for that matter. Other race names, such as Goblins, Ogres, and Giants also look a bit odd when capitalized. But why should this be?

To answer this quandary, we first need to determine whether or not we are talking about races or species. In both science fiction and fantasy, the terms “race” and “species” are used interchangeably, or, more often than not, “race” is just used when “species” is actually intended. In short and simple terms, a race is an ethnic group within a particular species, while a species is a broad category of related organisms that can breed among themselves, but not with other unrelated species. Vulcans and Klingons, for example, are not alien races–they are alien species (although, oddly, they can still breed with humans, even though that should not technically be possible).

Alien races are alien species–that much is certain. But are fantasy races different species or are they actually highly divergent sub-species within the same taxonomic genus? This is really a question that the author has to answer for his own world, but in the case of my fantasy world there are two major groups: hominid races and non-hominid races. Hominid races are the more traditional fantasy races, and are all members of the genus hominid, but are different enough from each other to be considered separate sub-species. Think of it like this–if neanderthals were still alive, humans and neanderthals would be the two hominid races on our planet. Sub-species of the same genus can often interbreed (horses and donkeys, lions and tigers, and so forth), although producing sterile offspring, which leads to the traditional fantasy staple of half-elves and the like. In addition to hominids, there are several entirely different species as well, collectively referred to as non-hominids, who are not in any way related to hominids or to each other–they evolved into intelligent species along entirely different evolutionary paths. But the point here is simply this: whether they are entirely different species or related sub-species of hominids, each of these fantasy races constitutes their own species group, within which are various ethnic groups or “races”.

The next and perhaps most important point is the proper noun verses common noun issue. Is a race or species name a proper noun or a common noun? Almost universally, the common names of species are lowercased, such as dog, cat, wolf, and elephant. Likewise, the common term for our own species, human, is never seen capitalized (except at the start of the sentence, of course). The word “human” is a common noun, and if “human” is a common noun, shouldn’t goblin, eldren, and dworgh also be common nouns? In fact, by this convention, shouldn’t klingon and vulcan also be considered common nouns and, thus, not capitalized?

Confoundingly, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, the name of an alien species is a common noun, but if that species is named after their planet of origin, then the name should be capitalized just as the name of their home world is capitalized. For example, let us make up the name Xorthergon for the multi-tentacled, six-eyed inhabitants of the planet Xortherga. Why then would Xorthergon be capitalized while human would not be capitalized? Because Xortherga is the name of a planet, then Xorthergons are the people from the planet Xortherga. However, a kalcaltrox, which is a six-legged reptilian creature also from the planet Xortherga, should not be capitalized — it is simply the name of a species and thus a common noun. Thus, it is indeed correct to capitalized Vulcan, since Vulcans are the people from the planet Vulcan. On the other hand, it is technically incorrect to capitalize Klingon, as Klingons are not from the planet Kling — they are in fact from the planet Qo’noS. Oh well.

But back to the subject of fantasy. Tolkien, as we know, capitalized Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Hobbit, and Men, but he did this primarily in reference to the collective races of Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Hobbits, and Men. When he spoke of a small party of dwarves or the hobbits of the Shire, he did not (usually) capitalize their racial name. In the book Ents, Elves, and Eriador, by Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans, we are told just after the introduction that “The decision of whether to capitalize the names of races in Middle-earth was not an easy one. Even Tolkien was not consistent. We made an effort to capitalize these words only when used collectively or in reference to a race as a race and to lowercase them when speaking of individuals of a race.”

Consistency is important, but the rules of the English language take precedence, at least when writing in English. Unfortunately, English is perhaps the worst language when it comes to matters of consistency. Nevertheless, one thing is certain: a noun is a proper noun if it is a specific place, an individual named thing (like a person’s name), or a unique entity. Species do not fall into this category, unless the species itself is named after a proper noun (as is the case for most science fiction races/species). Unless elves are from an actual place called El, Elvia, or Elfon, their racial name should not be capitalized. This is why elf, dwarf, orc, troll, and goblin are all lowercased — they are simply common nouns.

However, languages, cultures, tribes, and specific designators do constitute proper nouns, and should always be capitalized. Thus, while elf (and its adjective form, elven) should be lowercased, Elven must be capitalized when referring to the Elven language. This is also true when referring to what is sometimes called a specific designator. A specific designator is a usage of an ordinarily common noun as a proper noun because the specific object in question is named after the common noun (for example, Earth’s moon is called the Moon). In more general terms, using generic fantasy race names to make the point clear, we could write “The Age of Elves had ended, and the memory of elves passed into those deep legends of the dwarves, orcs, and humans alike, until the rise of the dread Orc Empire and the return of the Elf Queen and her folk.” Of course, one way out of the dilemma is to simply not use traditional fantasy names at all. Robert Jordan, for example, refers to Trollocs (troll-like monsters) and Ogier (a peaceful ogre-like race), although that still leaves in question whether “human” should be capitalized or not.

One final consideration of key importance is that of cultural, ethnic, and tribal names. Consider the cultural and ethic group names Visigoth, Celt, and Hun. Visigoths are not from the land of Visigoth any more than Celts are from the land of Celtica or Huns from the land of Hun. These peoples (the Goths, Celts, Huns, etc), were not part of a single unifying nation, nor did they have a single unifying language. They did, however, have a shared or common cultural identity, originated from a common region, and had a common language basis. Apart from all other considerations, the final decision on whether or not to capitalize the name of a fantasy race or species comes down to this question: “Can the people of the race/species be identify as having a common cultural heritage, language, religion, or general ideology, that uniquely distinguishing them as a group?” If the answer is yes, their name should be capitalized as it is with Visigoth or Celt. If the answer is no, then they are not a distinct cultural group and their name should be lower cased. This is why elf, in general fantasy terms as well as in mythology, is lower cased, while Elf is capitalized in fantasy works such as Lord of the Rings where the Elves do have a common cultural heritage.

Where does this conclusion leave us? Unfortunately, I still cannot say with absolute certainty when to capitalize a fantasy race name. But I can at least provide the guidelines that can be followed in determining whether a given race name should or should not be capitalized. Here are those guidelines.

  • Capitalize the names of intelligent races/species if the story is science fiction or science fantasy, as this seems to be the convention in this genre 99.9% of the time.
  • Capitalize the race/species if it is named after another proper noun, such as a land, nation, empire, or world, whether or not that land, nation, empire, or world still exists.
  • Capitalize if the members of the race/species can be identified as having a common cultural heritage, language, religion, or general ideology, that uniquely distinguishing them as a group.
  • Otherwise, do not capitalize.

In science fiction (and science fantasy), capitalization holds precedence as most alien races/species are named after their home world or empire. It is only in fantasy that we have our dilemma. The common names of non-intelligent creatures, such as cats, dogs, horses, and so forth, are lower cased as they do not have a common culture. In the case of intelligent fantasy races, the deciding factor is whether they are named after a proper noun, such as a land, region, or nation, or the if they share a common and uniquely identifying culture. For example, goblins may not have a uniquely identifying culture, and the name would thus be lower cased. But the Kobgrek tribe of goblins, who may constitute the largest cultural group of goblins, would be capitalized. The same may be true of dragons, orcs, giants, and elves.

Hopefully, this discourse on the capitalization of fantasy race names will be of use to someone; if not, at least it was of use to me. If anyone has any other opinions or anything to add, please feel free to post a comment. And be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you want to keep apprised to my latest musings and posts.

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18 Responses

  1. Izzy says:

    This was extremely helpful. I can’t tell you how much this helped me with my confusion. Thank you!

  2. J K says:

    2021 checking in. This article is still useful. Maybe even definitive.

    Cheers.

  3. Kyle says:

    This has been something that crops up in my mind from now and then. This was very interesting to read and I shall save this for future reference. One of the first times I wondered about the capitalisation thing is from the Mass Effect games series, in which the alien names are common nouns, so: quarian, turian, asari, volus.
    However, adding to the general confusion of this area, I would point out that Neanderthal should be capitalised as it is named after the Neanderthal/Neandertal (or Neander Valley) in Germany.

  4. Alee says:

    Like others here I stumbled upon this through a Google search about capitalizing species in stories, in my case it’s fantasy. It was just like you said the “human” bit that got to me, and which led to me to use lowercase on all of the species I use (none named after a planet, country or otherwise! Great info!), but it didn’t always look right. Might be because I also read a lot of scifi. I’m still not a 100% sure but after reading this I’m leaning towards keeping it the way I have so far, and keep it all lowercase.

    Very nicely written, I learned some new things and have a few new footholds to move forwards again, so thanks for that.

  5. Wonderful article! I am doing a re-write and this subject keeps popping up in my mind. Good tips!

  6. Captain Hypertext says:

    Great, thought provoking article, but I personally disagree about capitalizing races/species. Simply put, if you don’t capitalize ‘human’ (or cat or chicken for that matter), then IMO, you don’t capitalize klingon, unless klingon were derived from the name of a nation. End of story for me.

    Human races are only capitalized because they are named according to nationalities. African-American is obvious, Hispanic derives from Hispania which we know as Spain, and Caucasion refers to the Caucasus Mountains between the Black and Caspian seas).

    Just my two cents though, and how I like to write. To each their own.

  7. Randall says:

    Thank you for your post. Your post helped me figure out what’s been bugging me in all of my stories. I have decided that when I refer to a character as by her collective race, it’s going to be lowercase (like elf) but when I refer to her specific race, it will be capitalized (like Fire Elf). So, thank you.

  8. David says:

    This is officially my first reply to any article I have read online. Thank you for posting this. I had no clue how thorough of an answer I would find when I googled this topic.

    I will go read your book now. It is obviously the genre I like and it is the most tangible way, other than this comment of course, that I can thank you for educating me on this frustrating topic.

  9. captbill says:

    The essay on capitalization was a fascinating, well-thought out piece. It was joy to see a complex issue described and summed up with meaningful and useful guidelines.

  10. Lironah says:

    I had forgotten that Trolloc was always capitalized. (Which means I’ve been typing it wrong for years now…) Since I’m going science fiction, I’ll stick with capitals then. Thanks for the tips.

  11. Rhiannon says:

    Thank you so much for this! I have always been confused when it comes to writing the names of my species, as I typically prefer to use common nouns (which makes it even harder to decide). I feel more confident now. I only hope my lecturers agree (haha!).

  12. George says:

    Wow is all I can say. I seriously did not expect to find such a thorough, detailed analysis of a fundamental problem I was having while writing. Though it was written a while back, I feel the need to say thank you for your hard work and critical analysis. The work you did will be of great use to me and many others.

  13. KaAnna says:

    Brilliant article. I love how detailed you went into it and also provided a summary/guidelines at the end. This will be bookmarked for life! <3 Thank you!

  14. If the trees were sentient, then I would you should give them a special name. Tolkien, for example, called them Ents. You could make up some special name for your sentient trees as well, and then capitalize that name. The word “tree” would be lower cased, as it is a common noun (like “human” or “elf”). At least, that is the way I understand it, and the way I tree it… I mean treat it.

  15. justus says:

    Thank you. I did quite a search in Google till I found your essay. It’s been driving me nuts deciding when to capitalize Elves, Fairies, etc. What of trees then, if they are sentient beings in my story? You have answered my question for me. and I ran it by a number of English teachers who could not.

  16. Cirias says:

    This was very helpful and interesting to read through. I think you’re absolutely right, and I’ve been only capitalising when referring to a race name using their homeland (Tilshan).

  17. -Fireshaw says:

    Faced with the same quandary, I stumbled upon your blog. Your analysis was both thorough and useful. Well done.

  1. August 10, 2010

    […] 10, 2010 by M.W. Chase I have revised my essay on the Capitalization of Fantasy Race Names. Under further consideration and additional research, I have determined that my original conclusion […]

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