grammar - Commas around non-parenthetical name like "The famous playwright, William Shakespeare, was born…"?


I commonly see commas used like: "The famous playwright, William Shakespeare, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon."


It bothers me, but I'm curious to hear explanations of why this is done, and if it can be considered correct English. Is there any style manual that approves?


I would accept "The famous playwright William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon" or "William Shakespeare, the famous playwright, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon".


However, when phrased like "The famous playwright, William Shakespeare, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon", I read the name as parenthetical. But that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense with the name removed, as "the famous playwright" looks definite, but is undefined.


It suppose it could make sense in a context where the subject is mentioned previously, something like "Once upon a time, there was a well-known dramatist. The famous playwright, William Shakespeare, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon." In that case, the name really is parenthetical. But I've seen commas used this way without such a context, and often, I believe, in the very first sentence of a text.



Answer



Okay, after a night's sleep, I realized that thanks to @Robusto's answer and the comments on it, the question can more generally be posed as "Are commas allowed around a restrictive appositive?"


Searching Google for something like "restrictive apposition|appositive commas", I see several results that state that restrictive appositives should not have commas.


E.g. The University of Wisconsin's Writer's Handbook which states



Use commas to set off non-restrictive modifiers. Do not use commas to set off restrictive modifiers.



For a more authoritative source, the Chicago Manual of Style doesn't seem publicly available online, but I found Q&As that strongly suggest that it takes the same view: this and this.


I did not find any style guide stating they're required or allowed, but I did not try hard, and I am of course biased.


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