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This compliant solution uses an Optional String instead of a String object that may be null. The Optional class ( java.util.Optional [API 2014]) was introduced in Java 8 and can be used to mitigate against null pointer dereferences .

public boolean isProperName(Optional<String> os) {
  String names[] = os.orElse("").split(" ");
  return (names.length != 2) ? false : 
         (isCapitalized(names[0]) && isCapitalized(names[1]));
}

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Automated Detection

Null pointer dereferences can happen in path-dependent ways. Limitations of automatic detection tools can require manual inspection of code [Hovemeyer 2007] to detect instances of null pointer dereferences. Annotations for method parameters that must be non-null can reduce the need for manual inspection by assisting automated null pointer dereference detection; use of these annotations is strongly encouraged.

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