Common nouns (Norw. Fellesnavn) refer to things, people and places in general: boy, girl, apple, soul, school, car, idea, country, river, month.

Proper nouns (Norw. Egennavn) include names of people, countries, places, days of the week, months of the year, historical events, terms of address, holidays and religions.

They are spelt with a capital letter: Peter, Paris, the Pacific Ocean, Sunday, Ms, Jew, Catholic, the Civil War, Christmas, America, Norwegian, April.