All proper names should be looked up in the directory, dictionary or encyclopedia unless the reporter or copy reader is sure of the spelling. To misspell a man's name shakes that man's faith in the newspaper; leads him to believe that if the newspaper can't write his name correctly, it is likely to make other mistakes.
Never use _Mr._ before a man's Christian name. Give his full name and then speak of him thereafter as Mr. Blank. Do not write: Mr. John J. Blank.
Do not quote familiar nicknames, such as Billy Sunday, Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Jim Corbett.
Do not write: Superintendent of Police Marquardt, but Supt. Marquardt, or Ernst Marquardt, superintendent of police.
Never refer to a woman, no matter how lowly her social position, as "the Smith woman." Call her Mrs. Smith or Miss Smith.
Do not use the title _professor_ unless the person spoken of is or was a member of a college or university faculty. Because a man is a principal of a high school, a mesmerist or the trainer of sea lions, he is not for that reason entitled to call himself Prof. Blank.
Do not use name handles, such as _Butcher Smith_, _Grocer Jones_.
Do not use _master_ in referring to a boy.
Write _Mr. and Mrs. James Smith_, not _James Smith and wife._
Do not write Mrs. Judge Smith, or Mrs. Dr. Jones.
Use the indefinite article, as _Frank Smith, a plumber_; _William Jones, a barber_. Use the definite article in naming persons of distinction, as _William Dean Howells, the writer_; _Sarah Bernhardt, the actress_.
The surname is written first among the Chinese. _Sun Yat Sen_ is _Dr. Sun_. _Li Hung Chang_ is _Mr. Li_. Chinese is a monosyllabic language and all names should be written with each syllable capitalized, but hyphens are used with geographical names, as, _Yang-Tse-Kiang_, _Ho-Hang-Ho_, except _Pekin_, _Nankin_, _Shanghai_, _Hankow_ and _Canton_. Drop unnecessary letters in Chinese names whenever possible, as _Pekin(g)_, _Yuan Shi(h) Kai_, _Ho(w)-Hang-Ho_.
Write a man's name as he writes it. It is not _A. H. Frazer_; it is not _Allan Frazer_; but _Allan H. Frazer_. It is not _F. H. Croul_ or _Frank Croul_, but _Frank H. Croul_.
It is the King of the Belgians, not the King of Belgium.
Writing of a knight, be sure that you use his first name with the title _Sir_. He is _Sir Arthur Conan Doyle_, not _Sir Conan Doyle_. Never write _Sir Doyle_. The wife of a knight, however, is addressed as _Lady Blank_, not necessarily _Lady Mary Blank_.