How do you spell and capitalize "Mountain Man"?

Question

Is it "Mountain man" or two capital M's?
Say the sentence is, "The Mountain man tracked the bear." Can you explain why it's capitalized or spelled that way?

Answer 1

You have spelled it correctly, "mountain man".

The common convention of capitalization seems to be in lower case , "mountain man", (Webster's Third International Dictionary) when referred to a single individual in the third person. In the second person, it might be capitalized, such as "Come down off the horse, Mountain Man".
If it refers to a group, such as The Mountain Men, it might be capitalized, depending on the context. When referring to a group of individuals part of an organized group, it might be capitalized, such as "Kit Carson and the Mountain Men ".

Your example of the sentence "The Mountain man tracked the bear." , just doesn't look or read right. Both words should be either lower case or upper case, but not "Mountain man", since "mountain" is an adjective modifying the noun "man".

In the 19th century, if the phrase appeared in a book or newspaper, it was probably "mountain men" or "mountain man", without capitalization. It was a descriptive phrase of a pioneer trapper and hunter, but not part of a group as such.

I hope that give you some idea, and good luck.

Best wishes,

John B.

Answer 2

Here's the guide:

Use "Mountain Man" if you are intend it as a substitute name, kind of like a nick name. Like "Ol' Blue Eyes" or "Big Apple". It implies familiarity.

Use "Mountain man" if "Mountain" is a defining word for "man", much as you would use "American boy". If "Mountain" was a company (I dunno, like anthill exterminator or what), it would do best, like using "Fedex man."

Use "mountain man" if he's just a man from and of the mountains. Capitalizing any of the "m"s might also give the impression that he's a Canadian Mountie, so beware.