How to Alphabetize Names, Titles, and Lists Correctly
Sorting a list looks mechanical until two entries could reasonably go in either order. Does “de la Cruz” file under D or C? Does “The Great Gatsby” sit under T or G? Does “St Patrick’s Day” come before “Standing”?
A sorter can only apply the rule you give it. The Alphabetical Order Tool arranges words and names from A to Z or Z to A in your browser. The harder part is choosing a rule and applying it to every entry.
Quick answer
Decide how to treat spaces, articles, name particles and numbers before you sort, and write the rule down. For names, follow the convention of the list’s owner; for titles, ignore a leading “The”, “A” or “An” only if your style guide says to.
Letter by letter or word by word
These two methods disagree when a space falls in the middle. Letter-by-letter order ignores spaces: “Newman” comes before “New York”, because the fourth letters are M and Y. Word-by-word order compares whole words first: “New York” comes before “Newman”, because “New” ends before “Newman” continues.
Indexes and bibliographies often use letter-by-letter order. Some dictionaries and directories use word-by-word. Neither is wrong, but mixing them in one list produces order that looks random. Pick one and state it in the document’s notes.
Names with particles and prefixes
Surnames such as “de la Cruz”, “van Dijk”, “von Neumann” and “di Stefano” cause most of the arguments. The particle may be part of the surname, a nobiliary marker or a preposition. Library-style English lists often file “de la Cruz” under C and keep the particle in the display. Spanish-language lists may file it under D.
For British and Irish names, file “Mac” and “Mc” as spelled unless the list’s convention treats them as equivalent; in strict letter order, “MacKenzie” comes before “McKay”. Do not silently convert one to the other. Names beginning with O’ file under O, with the apostrophe ignored or treated as a space, as long as you do the same throughout.
Hyphenated surnames are usually treated as one string with the hyphen ignored, so “Smith-Jones” sorts near “Smithson”. Again, note the choice.
Titles, articles and numbers
In a list of titles, a leading article is often ignored so that “The Great Gatsby” files under G. That is a convention for finding the work, not a change to its name; keep “The” in the displayed title. If the list is a bibliography, follow the style guide instead.
Numbers need a decision too. “1984” can sort before all letters, as a numeral, or under N as “Nineteen Eighty-Four”. Dates and edition numbers may sort more usefully in numeric order than as text. Choose according to what the reader will look for.
Check the result, not just the button
Run your eye down the first letters. Look for a stray entry that begins with a space, a quotation mark or a bracket; those characters sort before letters and can push an item to the top. Check duplicates and near-duplicates, and decide whether “St” means Saint or Street before it lands in the wrong place.
Clean the list first: fix doubled spaces and repeated punctuation with the Punctuation Fixer, and make capitalisation consistent with the Case Converter. Then sort the list in the Alphabetical Order Tool and check the first and last few entries against your stated rule.
Common questions
Does "New York" come before "Newman" in an alphabetical list?
It depends on the method. Letter-by-letter order ignores spaces, so "Newman" comes before "New York" because the fourth letters are M and Y. Word-by-word order compares whole words first, so "New York" comes before "Newman". Pick one method, state it, and use it throughout the list.
Where should surnames like "de la Cruz" or "van Dijk" be filed?
Particles follow convention rather than a universal rule. Library-style English lists often file "de la Cruz" under C and keep the particle in the displayed name, while Spanish-language lists may file it under D. Decide the rule before sorting, write it down, and apply it to every entry.
Should I ignore "The" when alphabetising titles?
Only if your style guide says to. Many lists of titles ignore a leading "The", "A" or "An" so that "The Great Gatsby" files under G, but the article stays in the displayed title. For a bibliography, follow the required style guide rather than a general rule.