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If you refer to a name alone and not along with a person in dialog, do you put single quotation marks around it?

E.g., "Yeah, I agree with you there. 'Jon' is pretty common, but the same could be said of 'Jeffrey,' too."

E.g., "I could go with the name, Jon, sure, but I prefer 'Jeff' instead; or maybe since my last name's Thomas I'll go with 'Tommy.'

Made up examples, but they convey what I'm iffy about fine I think. Thanks for the feedback!

r r
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1 Answers1

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You can use quotations or possibly even bare, but I think the best option would be to use italics, since that's more common for when talking about words as words (in this case, it's a name as a word):

  • “Yeah, I agree with you there. Jon is pretty common, but the same could be said of Jeffrey, too”
  • “I could go with the name Jon, sure, but I prefer Jeff instead; or maybe since my last name’s Thomas, I’ll go with Tommy.”

I would do the same inside or outside of quotation marks, though.

user0721090601
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  • Thanks for the feedback! In this case, italics aren't an option for me. I guess quotation singlets should work, even though the bare approach seems tenable to me, too. Maybe it's simply a stylistic choice? – r r Aug 20 '14 at 23:51
  • @rr I'm inclined to say yes. It would not surprise me at all if there were two style guides that indicated two different ways. If italics aren't available, I'd probably go with quotes. The first of your two sentences wouldn't jump out at me personaly as discussing names without them or other context. – user0721090601 Aug 21 '14 at 00:04
  • "If italics aren't available, I'd probably go with quotes" indeed it's that simple – Fattie Aug 21 '14 at 10:36