Perform a word ucfirst in php with special characters to UTF-8. Example: área to Área

php mb_ucfirst

if (!function_exists('mb_ucfirst')) {
    /**
     * @param $str
     * @param string $encoding
     * @param bool $lower_str_end
     * @return string
     */
    function mb_ucfirst($str, $encoding = "UTF-8", $lower_str_end = false)
    {
        $first_letter = mb_strtoupper(mb_substr($str, 0, 1, $encoding), $encoding);
        if ($lower_str_end) {
            $str_end = mb_strtolower(mb_substr($str, 1, mb_strlen($str, $encoding), $encoding), $encoding);
        } else {
            $str_end = mb_substr($str, 1, mb_strlen($str, $encoding), $encoding);
        }
        $str = $first_letter . $str_end;
        return $str;
    }
}