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commas with names and titles

Commas are used around titles and degrees within the body of a sentence:

  • Charles Peabody, MD, PhD, was the first to arrive.
  • Judith Foster, Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, made the opening statement.

A comma is placed between a surname and a given name or initials if the surname is written first:

  • Mammouri, Muhammad
  • Grove, F. P.

Chinese and Vietnamese names are an exception. They are written with the family name first and no comma:

  • Deng Xiaoping
  • Nguyen Tranh