Excel PROPER Function: Capitalise Each Word

The Excel PROPER function capitalises the first letter of each word and makes the other letters lowercase. It’s the quickest way to tidy names.

fx=PROPER(text)

`text`	The text or cell to convert.

Table of Contents

Basic example

PROPER fixes names typed in any case:

=PROPER(B4)

RAHUL NAIR becomes Rahul Nair, and meera KRISHNAN becomes Meera Krishnan.

PROPER treats every word the same, so abbreviations lose their capitals:

=PROPER(B3)

mg road becomes Mg Road and tvm becomes Tvm. Fix these afterwards with SUBSTITUTE, for example =SUBSTITUTE(PROPER(B3),"Mg ","MG ").

Names from forms often have extra spaces as well as odd capitals. Wrap TRIM inside PROPER:

=PROPER(TRIM(B3))

aRJUN menon becomes Arjun Menon. TRIM removes the extra spaces and PROPER fixes the case.

Text	PROPER result	Why
o’brien	O’Brien	Capitalises after the apostrophe
it’s done	It’S Done	Same rule, unwanted here
anu-mary	Anu-Mary	Capitalises after the hyphen
3rd floor	3Rd Floor	Capitalises after a number

PROPER capitalises any letter that follows a character that isn’t a letter. Check results with apostrophes or numbers.

PROPER capitalises the first letter after any non-letter: spaces, hyphens, apostrophes and numbers.
Abbreviations and acronyms like MG, ID or GST lose their capitals. Fix them with SUBSTITUTE.
Combine with TRIM to clean spacing at the same time.
To capitalise only the first letter of a sentence, see the formula page linked below.

Problem	Cause	Fix
Acronyms in lowercase	PROPER treats them like ordinary words	Use SUBSTITUTE to restore them
Odd capitals after apostrophes	PROPER rule, such as It’S	Fix with SUBSTITUTE, or edit by hand
Extra spaces remain	PROPER doesn’t remove spaces	Use `PROPER(TRIM(B3))`

Practice file

All three examples plus the quirks in a cheat sheet.