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Blue tickThis guideline documents an English Misplaced Pages naming convention.
Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.		Shortcut
Main page: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions See also: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (settlements), Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (landforms), and Misplaced Pages:Resolving placename conflicts
Red question markThis page's designation as a policy or guideline is disputed or under discussion. Please see the relevant talk page discussion for further information.
It has been suggested that this page be merged with Naming_conventions_(geographic_names). (Discuss)

Naming conventions (places) are guidelines on how to appropriately name articles about countries and regions, and places within each country or region. This style guideline is intended to make this process more efficient by giving article titles a consistent look, and avoiding distracting information.

It is important to note that these are conventions, not rules written in stone. As Misplaced Pages grows and changes, some conventions that once made sense may become outdated, and there may be cases where a particular convention is "obviously" inappropriate. But when in doubt, follow convention.

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Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature.

In addition to following the naming conventions it is also important to follow the linking conventions. Following consistent conventions in both naming and linking makes it more likely that links will lead to the right place.

Administrative divisions of a country

See Misplaced Pages:NCGN#Administrative_subdivisions


A notice should be posted on the appropriate talk page (such as: "Administrative divisions of France", "Provinces of Pakistan", "States and territories of India") that asks for discussion about the move.

All place names in an administrative division should share the same form. For example, when one article has been moved from "ShortName" to "ShortName district", then all the districts within a country should be moved to that form.

There is no expectation of consistency between countries.

Streets and highways

U.S. Highways should be listed as is found in Category:U.S. Highway System. See also: Wikitravel

Countries

In general, country-specific articles and categories should be named using the form: "(item) of (country)". For more information, see: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (country-specific topics).

Specific issues

Counties of Britain

See Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (settlements)/Counties

States in the U.S. and provinces of Canada

Always write these out in full: not everybody understands the two-letter abbreviations that are often used in North America.

Note also that Newfoundland is not a Canadian province; it is an island that comprises part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Countries of Europe

The list of European regions with alternative names and the list of country names in various languages should be consulted when preparing articles.


Romanization of Cyrillic-alphabet place names

Main page: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (Cyrillic) See also: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (Mongolian), Misplaced Pages:Romanization of Russian, and Misplaced Pages:Romanization of Ukrainian

Country-specific guidance

Further guidance relating to some specific countries can be found at the following pages:

See also

Category: