Perhaps this is specific to .net core, I found DisplayName would not work but Display(Name=...) does. This may save someone else the troubleshooting involved :)
//using statements
using System;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations; //needed for Display annotation
using System.ComponentModel; //needed for DisplayName annotation
public class Whatever
{
//Property
[Display(Name ="Release Date")]
public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }
}
//cshtml file
@Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.ReleaseDate)