Embodiments include methods, systems and computer program products for performing named entity recognition. Aspects include obtaining a text having a plurality of words and comparing each of the plurality of words to a dictionary. Aspects also include creating, based on the comparison, an annotation for at least one of the plurality of words that the least one of the plurality of words refers to a named entity. Aspects further include parsing the text to identify a part of speech for each of the plurality of words and removing the annotations from each of the at least one of the plurality of words that has a part of speech that is not one or a noun and a noun supporting adjective.