In the book, "The Crystal Shard," by R.A. Salvatore, a character is surnamed "de Bernezan." Which of the following complete sentences uses the correct English-language capitalization:
- de Bernezan entered the room.
- De Bernezan entered the room.
The Wikipedia page on "de Vries" capitalized "De Vries" as a standalone, but writes "Marc de Vries" when using the full name.
Edits in response to comments:
- The book starts sentences as "de Bernezan," which seems incorrect. Hence my question.
- The Wikipedia page is neither authoritative nor clear. It seems to refers to "De Vries" as the correct capitalization of the surname, except when actually used as a surname. Since I am not Dutch, I do not know how their names work, especially when used in an English-language context. Again, hence my question.
Best Answer
Fortunately, The Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition) deals with this question on page 388:
So, following Chicago, the correct sentence is, "De Bernezan entered the room."
The variation in capitalization you found on the De Vries Wikipedia page is explained by the Chicago rule for Dutch names used in an English context (page 390):