As covered in the lesson nouns, nouns are naming words. There are several different kinds of nouns. This page describes the most common types. A common noun is the word used for a class of person, place or thing. proper noun is the name of a person, place or thing (i.e., its own name). A proper noun always starts with a capital letter. For example: Read more about using capital letters for proprer nouns but not common nouns.