normalize-human-name

🎓 Normalize real human names the way they’re actually written — fixes casing, particles, honorifics, suffixes, hyphenation, Mc/Mac and O’ prefixes into clean, properly formatted names.
♻️ Works seamlessly with CommonJS, ESM and TypeScript
0 Dependencies

🤔 Why this module is Versatile

Most name normalization functions simply capitalize the first letter of every word. normalizeHumanName is built to handle the "messy" reality of human nomenclature by implementing rules for honorifics, genealogical suffixes, and complex prefixes.

Key Capabilities:

🛡️ Context-Aware Particles: Automatically keeps Dutch and Romance language particles (like van, von, di) lowercase, but only when they appear in the middle of a name.
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Gaelic Prefix Logic: Intelligent handling of Mc and Mac prefixes while excluding common false positives like "Macy" or "Mack".
🔗 Smart Delimiter Handling: Splits and capitalizes correctly across both hyphens and apostrophes (e.g., O'Brian-Smith).
🌐 Unicode Safety: Uses NFC normalization to ensure that accented characters (like é) are treated as single units, preventing "double-casing" bugs.
🎓 Academic & Professional Sets: Detects specific suffixes like PhD, MD, or JR and ensures they maintain standard uppercase formatting.

Edge Case Handling

Input Category	Example Input	Normalized Output	Why it’s handled this way
Honorifics	`dr stephen strange`	`Dr. Stephen Strange`	Detects titles and ensures a standardized trailing period.
Suffixes	`robert downey jr`	`Robert Downey JR`	Identifies `genealogical` and `professional` suffixes to force uppercase.
Middle Particles	`vincent van gogh`	`Vincent van Gogh`	`Particles` stay lowercase between names but capitalize at boundaries.
Hyphenated Gaelic	`o'brian-mcdonald`	`O’Brian-McDonald`	Recursively handles multiple delimiters and converts to `smart apostrophes`.
Exclusion Logic	`macy gray`	`Macy Gray`	Prevents `"Mac"` logic from triggering on names that aren't actually prefixes.
Unicode Normalization	`REN\u0065\u0301`	`René`	Collapses decomposed accents into single characters before processing.
Sanitization	`JOHN DOE`	`John Doe`	Collapses internal whitespace and trims the string.
Arabic Script	`نجيب محفوظ`	`نجيب محفوظ`	Detects `Arabic Unicode` script and returns `as-is` (Arabic has no concept of casing).
CJK Script	`佐藤健`	`佐藤健`	Detects `Han`/`Hiragana`/`Katakana`/`Hangul` and removes internal whitespace.
Expanded Honorifics	`rev brown`	`Rev. Brown`	Now supports religious (`Rev`, `Sister`, `Rabbi`) and formal (`Don`, `Herr`) titles.
Professional Suffixes	`jane doe cpa`	`Jane Doe CPA`	Forces uppercase for business and medical credentials (`CPA`, `MBA`, `JD`, `DDS`).
International Particles	`luca della robbia`	`Luca della Robbia`	Handles extended Romance (`della`, `dos`) and Germanic (`vander`, `zu`) connectors.
Roman Numerals	`king henry viii`	`King Henry VIII`	Uses strict regex to distinguish valid Roman numerals from regular words.

📦 Install via NPM

$ npm i normalize-human-name

💻 Usage

See examples below

CommonJS

const normalizeHumanName = require('normalize-human-name');

// --| 1. The "Professional" (Honorifics & Suffixes)
// --| Handles title dots and uppercase credentials automatically
const academic = () => {
    const raw = "dr jane doe phd";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Dr. Jane Doe PHD"
};

// --| 2. The "European" (Middle Particles)
// --| Keeps connectors lowercase only when they are not at the start/end
const european = () => {
    const raw = "LEONARDO DI CAPRIO";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Leonardo di Caprio"
};

// --| 3. The "Highlander" (Gaelic Prefixes)
// --| Handles internal capitalization for Mc/Mac
const gaelic = () => {
    const raw = "mcdonald macdougal";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "McDonald MacDougal"
};

// --| 4. The "Double-Barrel" (Hyphens & Apostrophes)
// --| Correctly cases across delimiters and converts to smart apostrophes
const hyphenated = () => {
    const raw = "anne-marie o'malley";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Anne-Marie O’Malley"
};

// --| 5. The "False Positive" (Exclusion Logic)
// --| Ensures common names starting with "Mac" aren't broken
const exclusion = () => {
    const raw = "macy gray";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Macy Gray" (Not "MacY")
};

// --| 6. The "International" (Unicode NFC)
// --| Prevents double-casing by collapsing decomposed characters
const international = () => {
    const raw = "REN\u0065\u0301";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "René"
};

// --| 7. The "Messy Data" (Sanitization)
// --| Cleans up erratic spacing and mixed casing
const cleanup = () => {
    const raw = "  jOHN    smith   ";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "John Smith"
};

// --| Execute all
[academic, european, gaelic, hyphenated, exclusion, international, cleanup].forEach(fn => fn());

ESM

import normalizeHumanName from 'normalize-human-name';

// --| 1. The "Professional" (Honorifics & Suffixes)
// --| Handles title dots and uppercase credentials automatically
const academic = () => {
    const raw = "dr jane doe phd";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Dr. Jane Doe PHD"
};

// --| 2. The "European" (Middle Particles)
// --| Keeps connectors lowercase only when they are not at the start/end
const european = () => {
    const raw = "LEONARDO DI CAPRIO";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Leonardo di Caprio"
};

// --| 3. The "Highlander" (Gaelic Prefixes)
// --| Handles internal capitalization for Mc/Mac
const gaelic = () => {
    const raw = "mcdonald macdougal";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "McDonald MacDougal"
};

// --| 4. The "Double-Barrel" (Hyphens & Apostrophes)
// --| Correctly cases across delimiters and converts to smart apostrophes
const hyphenated = () => {
    const raw = "anne-marie o'malley";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Anne-Marie O’Malley"
};

// --| 5. The "False Positive" (Exclusion Logic)
// --| Ensures common names starting with "Mac" aren't broken
const exclusion = () => {
    const raw = "macy gray";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Macy Gray" (Not "MacY")
};

// --| 6. The "International" (Unicode NFC)
// --| Prevents double-casing by collapsing decomposed characters
const international = () => {
    const raw = "REN\u0065\u0301";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "René"
};

// --| 7. The "Messy Data" (Sanitization)
// --| Cleans up erratic spacing and mixed casing
const cleanup = () => {
    const raw = "  jOHN    smith   ";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "John Smith"
};

// --| Execute all
[academic, european, gaelic, hyphenated, exclusion, international, cleanup].forEach(fn => fn());

TypeScript

import normalizeHumanName from 'normalize-human-name';

// --| 1. The "Professional" (Honorifics & Suffixes)
// --| Handles title dots and uppercase credentials automatically
const academic = (): void => {
    const raw: string = "dr jane doe phd";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Dr. Jane Doe PHD"
};

// --| 2. The "European" (Middle Particles)
// --| Keeps connectors lowercase only when they are not at the start/end
const european = (): void => {
    const raw: string = "LEONARDO DI CAPRIO";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Leonardo di Caprio"
};

// --| 3. The "Highlander" (Gaelic Prefixes)
// --| Handles internal capitalization for Mc/Mac
const gaelic = (): void => {
    const raw: string = "mcdonald macdougal";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "McDonald MacDougal"
};

// --| 4. The "Double-Barrel" (Hyphens & Apostrophes)
// --| Correctly cases across delimiters and converts to smart apostrophes
const hyphenated = (): void => {
    const raw: string = "anne-marie o'malley";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Anne-Marie O’Malley"
};

// --| 5. The "False Positive" (Exclusion Logic)
// --| Ensures common names starting with "Mac" aren't broken
const exclusion = (): void => {
    const raw: string = "macy gray";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "Macy Gray" (Not "MacY")
};

// --| 6. The "International" (Unicode NFC)
// --| Prevents double-casing by collapsing decomposed characters
const international = (): void => {
    // --| \u0065\u0301 is a decomposed 'é'
    const raw: string = "REN\u0065\u0301";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "René"
};

// --| 7. The "Messy Data" (Sanitization)
// --| Cleans up erratic spacing and mixed casing
const cleanup = (): void => {
    const raw: string = "  jOHN    smith   ";
    console.log(normalizeHumanName(raw));
    // --| Result: "John Smith"
};

// --| Execute all
const scenarios: Array<() => void> = [
    academic,
    european,
    gaelic,
    hyphenated,
    exclusion,
    international,
    cleanup
];

scenarios.forEach(fn => fn());