Is Christmas Capitalized? What about Merry Christmas?

Capitalization / By

Yes, Christmas is capitalized in a sentence. The word “Christmas” is capitalized in English because it is a proper noun. “Merry Christmas”, and “Happy Christmas” should also be capitalized when they are used as a greeting.

Examples:

Happy Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Do you capitalize Christmas in a sentence?

You should capitalize “Christmas” in a sentence no matter where it is placed in a sentence. This is because “Christmas” is a proper noun and we always capitalize proper nouns in English. 

Examples:

I get my Christmas holidays next week.

What are you doing next Christmas? 

What about Merry Christmas/Happy Christmas?

This is where it gets a bit tricky. Technically you should only capitalize “Merry” and “Happy” before “Christmas” when they come at the beginning of the sentence. 

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

When they are not placed at the beginning they should not be capitalized. 

I wish you merry Christmas. 

For some reason, I always feel like I should capitalize “merry” because I am so used to seeing the greeting “Merry Christmas”. 

I wish you merry Christmas. 

Conor
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