Capitalization of Fantasy Race Names

by Mark William Chase

I have struggled for some time with the conundrum of capitalization as it concerns the names of fantasy races. As a reader, I never really 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 here and there -- especially in the works of a certain preeminent author of classic fantasy literature. 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, right? At least they are for the most part, with the glaring exception of humans (but aren't we humans an alien species, too?).

For me, the issue of whether or not to capitalize the name of fantasy races is primarily of concern as it relates to the various races particular to my fantasy world of Mythania, so this essay will use some examples from that setting. However, I am confident that a full understanding of the problem and the proposed solutions in this essay will help many other aspiring fantasy writers, as well, since a quick web search reveals no consensus and much confusion on the matter of capitalizing race names.

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 partially 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 Eldrien, Dworgh, Scaithi, Ogre, and Goblin. In addition, the name of virtually every human race is also capitalized, such as African-American, Hispanic, Asian, Caucasian, and so forth. Thus, it seemed to me 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 Eldrien that the Human would not help him hold back the Goblin onslaught." Obviously, the word "human" 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?

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 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, eldrien, 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. For my world, this means the names of my fantasy races such as eldrien, dworgh, and scaithi, as well as ogre, giant, and goblins, should not be capitalized. At least, not usually.

However, languages, cultures, 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. In my world, dworgh should be lowercased, while Dworghen is capitalized when referring to the Dworghen language spoken by dworghs. 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 other words, it is correct to write "The ancient Eldrien civilization arose 6,000 years ago, comprised of both human and eldrien tribes." While this sentience may appear to have inconsistencies in capitalization, it is grammatically correct. 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."

Do we at last have our answer? I feel moderately confident in saying "perhaps". In science fiction capitalization holds precedence as most alien races/species are named after their home world or empire. In fantasy, however, the reverse is true. Most race names (even non-traditional race names specific to a given world) should be treated as common nouns, just like any other species name, and should only be capitalized when used as specific designators of their language, culture, empire, or in very rare cases, when formally referring to their race as a collective whole. In this last case, the race name is a specific designator only when applied in a formal context that treats the race as a single, specifically named entity (thus constituting a proper noun). "The elves of the woodland veil are peaceful," is not the same as writing "The forgotten age before the Elves departed from the world of Men." Of course, it is best to avoid this last case since it is still somewhat ambiguous and could introduce additional problems in capitalization consistency (as we see in the text of the Lord of the Rings).

Hopefully, this short discourse on 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 contact me.