I recently had someone visit my website asking me whether they needed to include a comma before a name in a birthday greeting. Here was their example:
- Happy birthday, Jo.
In short, yes, include a comma when wishing a specific person a happy birthday. Including the comma whenever you address someone (whether it’s for a happy birthday or otherwise) provides clarity.
Consider these two examples, one with the comma and one without:
- Did you eat, James?
- Did you eat James?
In the first example, it’s clear that we’re asking James if he ate. In the second example, we’re asking whomever it is we’re addressing whether they ate James. Using a comma can sometimes save a life. Here are some other examples of addressing others, and you can see that we use a comma for each:
- Hello, George.
- Merry Christmas, Mary.
- Goodbye, Juan.
- Are you comfortable, Sabine?
- Shall we walk on, Adebiyi?
- Let’s visit, Jaiminder.
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