Skip to content

MD044 - Use Proper Capitalization for Names

Aliases: proper-names

What this rule does

Ensures brand names, product names, and technical terms are consistently capitalized throughout your documents.

Why this matters

  • Professional appearance: Incorrect capitalization looks careless and unprofessional
  • Brand respect: Shows you care about getting company and product names right
  • Consistency: Readers won't be confused by different variations of the same name
  • Searchability: Consistent naming improves search results and indexing

Examples

✅ Correct

With configured names:

[MD044]
names = ["JavaScript", "GitHub", "Node.js", "TypeScript"]
# JavaScript Development Guide

This guide covers JavaScript best practices for GitHub projects.

We'll be using Node.js and TypeScript for our examples.

❌ Incorrect

# Javascript Development Guide        <!-- Should be "JavaScript" -->

This guide covers javascript best practices for github projects.
<!-- "javascript" and "github" are incorrectly capitalized -->

We'll be using NodeJS and typescript for our examples.
<!-- "NodeJS" should be "Node.js", "typescript" should be "TypeScript" -->

🔧 Fixed

# JavaScript Development Guide

This guide covers JavaScript best practices for GitHub projects.

We'll be using Node.js and TypeScript for our examples.

Configuration

[MD044]
names = []             # List of properly capitalized names
code-blocks = false    # Check inside code blocks (default: false, skips code blocks)
html-elements = true   # Check inside HTML elements (default: true)
html-comments = true   # Check inside HTML comments (default: true)

Automatic fixes

When enabled, this rule will:

  • Replace all incorrect capitalizations with the proper version
  • Preserve the context and meaning of your text
  • Work across headings, paragraphs, and lists

Special cases

  • Only checks names you've configured
  • Won't check inside URLs or file paths
  • By default, skips code blocks (set code-blocks: true to check them)
  • Set html-comments: false to skip HTML comment content
  • Some names are intentionally lowercase (like "npm")

Learn more

  • MD033 - Control HTML usage in Markdown
  • MD040 - Identify code block languages
  • MD049 - Use consistent emphasis markers