Misplaced Pages

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This 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 WP:NCP

General Misplaced Pages Naming Conventions start from easy principles: the name of an article should be "the most common name of a person or thing that does not conflict with the names of other people or things". This boils down to the two central ideas in Misplaced Pages article naming:

1. The name that is most generally recognisable
2. The name that is unambiguous with the name of other articles

Several general and specific guidelines further specify that article names preferably:

• Do not have additional qualifiers (such as "King", "Saint", "Dr.", "(person)", "(ship)"), except when this is the simplest and most neutral way to deal with disambiguation
• Are in English
• Are not insulting.

Most biographical articles have titles in the form:

<First name> <Last name> (examples: Albert Einstein, Margaret Thatcher)

The remainder of this guideline is about what happens in those cases where this format is not obvious, or for one reason or other is not followed.

Scope of this guideline

In general this guideline deals with the naming of articles where a single article is devoted to a single person, although there's a special cases section below that deals with several persons with the same name on the same page and with multiple pages for a single person.

This guideline does not deal with:

• Groups of people under whatever form: more about naming conventions regarding groups of people can for example be found in Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (identity) and in Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions#Organizations (such as political parties).
• Things named after people, like Saint Denis Basilica and the Queen Elizabeth 2. Naming of such articles is covered by other relevant guidelines, see other Misplaced Pages naming conventions.
• Fictional characters: whether an article is to be named Dame Edna Everage or Dame Edna or Edna Everage is indifferent to this particular guideline; on the other hand the guideline deals with how the Barry Humphries article is to be named. In those cases where it's not clear whether a character is fictional or not, it is suggested to have either separate articles for the "fictional" and the "non-fictional" character (example: P. D. Q. Bach and Peter Schickele) or use the most commonly used name for a single article (example: Amazons).
• Gods and deities: if for these the name doesn't follow from culture-specific naming conventions guidelines, the title of the Misplaced Pages article is decided on a case-by-case basis. Example: Emperor Augustus was deified by the ancient Romans. How this emperor is named follows from the naming conventions guideline specific for "ancient Romans" (see below). Whether it's Hercules or Heracles, or whether both get a separate article, is best decided in the wikiprojects dealing with Antiquity, and not by the present naming policy.
• Page names for Redirect pages (see Misplaced Pages:Redirect) and Disambiguation pages (see Misplaced Pages:Disambiguation).

The present guideline gives the general principles. In some cases more specific guidelines also apply, for example: Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (ancient Romans), Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility) (dealing mainly with monarchs and nobles in Western tradition after antiquity), Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (clergy), Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (government departments and ministers), and several naming conventions for non-Western cultures. (See the list in the box at the top of this page.)

When it seems difficult to follow the "<First Name> <Last Name>" format_<Last_Name>"_format">

Very often the "<First Name> <Last Name>" format doesn't apply. The overwhelming majority of all human beings that live or have lived on Earth don't have a name in that format. Most of these are not problematic, unless from a viewpoint of orthography: these specifics are treated in naming conventions guidelines about these languages, and not further considered in this guideline.

Below, each of the options for choosing something other than the "<First Name> <Last Name>" format are treated in the same way: first some obvious examples are given, followed by tips whether it is advisable to use this alternate type of formatting for disambiguation purposes (that is, in the case this wouldn't be the "most commonly used version" of the name).

People from countries where the surname comes first_<Last_Name>"_format">

The conventions for dealing with such names vary from country to country, and the standard naming procedures are dealt with in individual manuals of style; see, for example, Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (Chinese), Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (Korean), and Misplaced Pages:Manual of style (Japan-related articles).

Single name_<Last_Name>"_format">

Sometimes, mostly for names from antiquity, a single word is traditional and sufficient to identify a person unambiguously.

Examples: Aristotle, Livy, Plutarch, Charlemagne, Fibonacci, etc.

Some modern examples include: Sukarno and Suharto of Indonesia; and Hirohito of Japan.

Using the last name as the page title for a person, when the first name is also known, and used, is discouraged, even if that name would be unambiguous, and even if that last name consists of more than one word. The unambiguous parts of the last name are usually redirects: for example Ludwig van Beethoven is a content page to which Van Beethoven redirects. Beethoven, however, has ambiguity with Beethoven (film).

Similarly, don't use a first name (even if unambiguous) for the page name, if the last name is known and fairly often used. Example: Oprah Winfrey, to which Oprah redirects. Only if the single name is used as a true artist's name (stage name, pseudonym, etc.) the recommendations of Nicknames, pen names, stage names, cognomens below can be followed.

Exceptionally the use of a single name without any other qualifier as article title helps in disambiguation, for example Tacitus (the author) is seldom confused with the emperor with the same name; more often it doesn't help, for example Homer and Prince mean more than the name of a single person

Middle names and abbreviated names_<Last_Name>"_format">

Examples: John F. Kennedy, Thomas John Barnardo, Annie M. G. Schmidt.

Generally, use the most common format of a name: if that is with a middle name or an abbreviation, make the Misplaced Pages article name conform to that format.

For abbreviations:

• If the version of an article name with the first and middle names written in full is used nearly as often as the version with abbreviated names followed by a period, prefer the version with these names written in full. Example: Johann Sebastian Bach and not J. S. Bach, although the latter has more Google hits.
• There is no consensus for always using spaces between initials, neither for never using them. However, in most Misplaced Pages articles where the subject uses two consecutive initials, the space between initials is used; see Literary initials.

Important: provide redirects wherever possible (or appropriate disambiguation where redirects are not possible) for all other formats of a name that are also in use, or could reasonably be typed in Misplaced Pages's "Search" box by someone looking for information about that person.

See also section about pen names, nicknames and cognomens below: prefer what is most common, e.g. Malcolm X and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Adding middle names, or their abbreviations, merely for disambiguation purposes (that is: if this format of the name is not the commonly used one to refer to this person) is not advised.

Multiple surnames_<Last_Name>"_format">

Some Western cultures use a "double last name" format, or add patronymics or matronymics. The second surname can be that of a parent or of a spouse. Examples:

• Iberian naming customs: Josep Puig i Cadafalch – Puig is the last name of his father, Cadafalch of his mother; i means "and".
• Russian: Tatyana Sukhotina-Tolstaya - born Tatyana Lvovna Tolstaya. Lvovna is her patronymic taken from her father's first name, Lev. Tolstaya is her maiden name, taken from her father's surname, Tolstoy. Upon marriage she combined the surnames of her husband (Sukhotin) and her father to get Sukhotina-Tolstaya. More commonly, a married woman only uses the feminized surname of her husband (Sukhotina in this case). Patronymics are widely used in Russia where English speakers would use a surname, thus should generally be included in the first line of the article, but are not usually used in the title of the English Misplaced Pages article.
• Belgian: Justine Henin – became Justine Henin-Hardenne, adding her husband's family name secondarily, an uncommon case in Belgium (contrast Dominique Monami, Dominique Van Roost-Monami after marriage, etc.).
• American: Alberta Christine Williams King – born Alberta Christine Williams, she simply added her husband's surname, unhyphenated.

Similarly, depending on time, region and habits or exceptions, women (and, rarely, men) may replace their family name with that of their spouse:

• Virginia Woolf – born: Virginia Stephen, her husband was Leonard Woolf.

In all such cases, continue to apply the general rule that Misplaced Pages uses the form of the name that is most common for referring to the person in question (if a name is the evident choice of the article subject, it is likely to be common; but evidence of actual usage is to be preferred when they differ), and especially do not swap the original last name and that of the spouse or vice versa in an attempt to disambiguate. Examples of correct names to use for biographical article titles (each with a differing example from a comparable region and period):

• Josep Puig i Cadafalch, but Antoni Gaudí (and not Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, adding his mother's family name; this architect is better known without the matronymic).
• Virginia Woolf, but Vita Sackville-West (her birth name; not, after her husband, Vita Nicolson – she chose to retain her maiden name as a writer, rarely using Nicolson.)

Disambiguation aid is rarely to be expected from adding or subtracting a second last name artificially, or swapping the original last name and that of the spouse: Josep Puig i Cadafalch (architect) and Josep Puig i Boix (politician and renewable energy supporter) both include their mother's maiden name because it is usual, not for helping Misplaced Pages to disambiguate.

"<First name> of <Location>" format_of_<Location>"_format-When_it_seems_difficult_to_follow_the_"<First_Name>_<Last_Name>"_format">

Occurs most often for monarchs (who often do not have, or do not use, last names). Try to use the most commonly used "Location" for this person's name, and only in the case this format is more often used than the usual "<First name> <Last name>" format.

Example: Jeanne of Flanders and Jeanne of Constantinople both refer to the same person. The first version is slightly more used, so that's the preferred article name.

Note that for monastics also the format "<First name> of <something else than Location>" exists. If a variant with a <Location> exists, that is the version of the name that is preferred as Misplaced Pages page name:

• Teresa of Ávila, not "Teresa of Jesus" (translation of "Teresa de Jesús," the way she signed her letters and was known in her convent);
• John of the Cross, translation of "Juan de la Cruz", no "of <Location>" available.

Sometimes the "of <Location>" part is differently formatted: "à Kempis" (in: Thomas à Kempis) would by many be perceived as a last name, while in fact it is "of Kempen" differently formatted. Such alternative format is however only used for a Misplaced Pages article title, when in English the name is nearly exclusively written in that form (compare: Thomas Becket and not Thomas à Becket).

Disambiguation purposes: for several monarchs and saints this is a great help to disambiguate; in other cases the ambiguity appears to persist, see for example: Elisabeth of Bohemia (disambiguation)

Ordinals_<Last_Name>"_format">

For guidance over the use of ordinals with the names and titles of European monarchs and other European nobility see Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (names and titles).

Use ordinals if they are used in reliable sources for example:

• Henry Ford II (Grandson of Henry Ford)
• Martin Luther King III but not Martin Luther King II who is usually known as Martin Luther King, Jr.

Disambiguation: only when naming the ordinal explicitly is the commonest way to refer to the person. So it is Henry Vane the Younger not Henry Vane II, and Winston Churchill (born 1940).

Senior and junior_<Last_Name>"_format">

Senior/junior (or for Latin names: maior/minor; or "the Elder"/"the Younger") is only used when this is the usual way for differentiating a person from another with the same name, for example:

• Pliny the Younger
• John F. Kennedy, Jr.

For Latin and Greek names, "the Elder"/"the Younger" (or in some cases "the Great(er)"/"the Lesser") is preferred (with that capitalisation) instead of "Major"/"Minor".

In the case of senior/junior adding ", Sr." or alternatively ", Jr." after the name, is preferred.

Using this as a disambiguation technique is not advised, except for those names where the practice is well established, e.g. Martin Luther King, Sr. disambiguates naturally with Martin Luther King, Jr. (and at the same time with Martin Luther, with Michael King, with Martin Luther King III and with any "King"-monarch)

Nicknames, pen names, stage names, cognomens_<Last_Name>"_format">

The most used name to refer to a person is generally the one that Misplaced Pages will choose as page name, even if this sounds awkward for those seeing the name the first time: Alfred the Great is the name most used in literature to refer to this person. Changing the name to Alfred-not-so-Great-after-all or whatever would be more POV than using the name that is most commonly used. It is best to remember that Misplaced Pages does not make reality: Wikipedians note down what is the closest to facts they can find, in this case that the name "Alfred the Great" is most often used to refer to a certain person.

For details on how to decide whether to use cognomens or other titles for monarchs and nobles see Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (names and titles).

If people published under one or more pen names and/or their own name, the best known of these names is chosen.

Further examples:

• George Eliot - pen name of Mary Ann Evans
• Le Corbusier, not Charles-Édouard Jeanneret
• H. G. Wells - as author Herbert George Wells abbreviated both his first and middle names: the abbreviated "artist's name" is used in wikipedia as page name.
• Scotty Bowman, not William Scott Bowman
• Dizzy Gillespie, not John Birks Gillespie
• 50 Cent, not Curtis James Jackson III
• MC Hammer, not Stanley Burrell

Better not use this for disambiguation, unless it's the name by which this person is known best. For example, B. G. James the politician and B.G. James the wrestler need explicit disambiguation (for example by a top of the page disambiguation notice on both pages, or a disambiguation page): "implicit" disambiguation by using one format of the abbreviation for the one, and another abbreviation format for the "B" and "G" initials for the other is not sufficient.

Qualifiers not between brackets_<Last_Name>"_format">

Example: Charles, Prince of Wales

It appears best to see page names as a "navigation utility" exclusively, not as a "tag" with which to pass on subliminal or other messages regarding the person whose name is on top of a page. This kind of qualifiers and descriptions is more suitable in the body of the article where it's easier to treat them in a NPOV way, and can be supported by a host of other techniques, for example Categories, lists, and navigational templates. Styles, like for instance "HRH", are not used in page titles of articles on people.

Qualifiers like Saint are only used as the first word for a page name if this epithet in itself is the most effective disambiguator. So there is:

• Saint Peter, to disambiguate from other people with the same name, including an (anti-)pope (see: Peter#Disambiguation).
• Saint Patrick, but Brigid of Ireland (saint, from the same era as the former).
• Saint George is about a particular saint, but there is also Saint George (disambiguation)
• The saints Paul of Tarsus, Paul of Thebes and Vincent de Paul are all disambiguated at the Saint Paul disambiguation page. "Vincent de Paul" is in fact one out of several Saint Vincents, so also mentioned on that disambiguation page.
• Louis IX of France: the regnal name disambiguates better than the "Saint" epithet (see Saint Louis disambiguation page).

Similarly, "King", "Queen", "Blessed", "Mother", "Father", "Doctor", "Mister", or any other type of qualifier is generally avoided as first word for a page name of a page on a single person, unless for disambiguation or redirect purposes. For example John Forrest (friar) is preferred as the name of the page where the content is, above Blessed John Forrest, which is a redirect page. This is rather a practical than a principal rule, so the general principle of "the unambiguous name a person is best known by" easily takes precedence:

• Mother Teresa
• Father Damien

If a qualifier is used in the title of a page where the content is, it is never abbreviated (apart from Jr./Sr. as described above), so: "Saint", not "St." nor "St". Also here, for redirect pages there is no problem to use an abbreviated form, example: Dr. Livingstone is a viable redirect to the David Livingstone article.

Descriptive name_<Last_Name>"_format">

Exceptionally, when no direct name (not even a nick-name) can be given, or when such name would have too much uncertainty and/or lacks wide recognisability, a descriptive page name may be appropriate.

Examples:

• Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece (name not known)
• Pontius Pilate's wife (names exist, but are lacking a degree of certainty, and are also lacking broad recognisability)

Do not do this for disambiguation alone.

Qualifier between bracketing parentheses_<Last_Name>"_format">

• WP:QUALIFIER

Examples:

• William Henry (delegate), William Henry (chemist), William Henry (congressman), William Henry (actor),...
• Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist) - in order to disambiguate from the politician with the same name.
• Prince (musician) - disambiguating from other "Princes" mentioned at Prince (disambiguation)
• Lucius Cornelius Balbus (major) and Lucius Cornelius Balbus (minor) - see above: for these two Romans the "the Elder"/"the Younger" epithets are not commonly used.

Some standardisation of the bracketed disambiguator is possible, for example "(musician)" and "(politician)" are very recognisable. Try to avoid abbreviations or anything capitalised or containing hyphens, dashes or numbers (apart from where more specific guidelines specify particular exceptions to that), and also try to limit to a single, recognisable and highly applicable word regarding the person at hand. Years of birth and death should not be used in a page title to distinguish between people of the same name (readers are more likely to be seeking this information than to already know it).

Sometimes a little extra creativity is needed: for example, "Engelbert Humperdinck (musician)" would still be two persons, so requires a split, like:

• Engelbert Humperdinck for the late 19th/early 20th century composer (with Engelbert Humperdinck (composer) as an obvious redirect)
• Engelbert Humperdinck (singer) for the pop music artist born in the 20th century

As for all other articles: try to avoid this type of disambiguation where possible (use disambiguation techniques listed above if these apply more "naturally") – but if no other disambiguation technique comes naturally, this type of disambiguation is the most preferred one.

Difficult to disambiguate: some examples_<Last_Name>"_format">

When two persons with the same name are known for exactly the same characteristic (usually their profession), the above gives no straightforward solution on how to disambiguate. Here are some examples of how Wikipedians sought to overcome excessive clutter in disambiguators:

• Roger Taylor (drummer):
  • Roger Meddows-Taylor
  • Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (sometimes upper-case terms are appropriate)
• Steve Smith (ice hockey defenseman/defenceman b./born 1963):
  • James Stephen Smith – not Steve Smith (Edmonton Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks), nor Steve Smith (ice hockey defenceman b. 1963 in Scotland), nor Steve Smith (British-born ice hockey player)
  • Steve Smith (ice hockey) – not Steve Smith (Philadelphia Flyers/Buffalo Sabres defenseman), nor Steve Smith (ice hockey defenceman b. 1963 in Ontario), nor Steve Smith (Canadian-born ice hockey player)
• Jessica Collins (actress):
  • Jessica Collins (Tru Calling actress)
  • Jessica Collins (The Nine actress)

Special cases

Articles combining biographies of several people

For examples of multi-person biography pages: see Category:Biographies of multiple people

"<First name> <Last name>" format_<Last_name>"_format-Articles_combining_biographies_of_several_people">

Even if strictly spoken not a "First name" followed by a "Last name", for people that share such a name, and are best known by it, it is advised to follow this general rule: Make it a disambiguation page, and give each person a separate article.

Exceptions:

• Nicci French is the pen name for an author duo — there seems to be no problem in treating both persons on the same page in such case. Similar example: Ellery Queen.
• Ancient Romans with the same name:
  • If not a disambiguation page (example: Marcus Livius Drusus), use "Summary style" layout for the page containing short biographical notes on the people having this name (example: Julia Caesaris). Even if there are no subarticles, the same layout can be used, that is: one "==...==" level section per person by this name (example: Lucius Valerius Flaccus). A mixed example (some sections having subarticles, while others haven't) can be found at Lucius Julius Caesar;
  • Add Category:Biographies of multiple people in ancient Rome.

Family name only

Example: Peruzzi, a family as an entity that transcends its individuals (who may have separate entries)

See Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (identity) for guidance.

For family names that are used across such identification of a group of related people, do as with articles on separate first names: disambiguation page and/or separate article about the etymology of the name. See for example Katz: although this last name has a Jewish origin, it does not define a particular "subset" of the Jewish community, so the Katz page is rather a disambiguation page than an "identity"-defining page.

First name only

Example: Peter

It is best to make it a disambiguation page in such cases. If information is added about the etymology of the name that takes more than a short introductory paragraph, it is better to make separate "description" and "disambiguation" pages, for instance: John (name) and John - in this case John (disambiguation) redirects to the latter of these pages. Jean only has a disambiguation page, but the introduction of this page links to John (name) for the etymology.

"<name> and <name>" format_and_<name>"_format-Articles_combining_biographies_of_several_people">

When a "group" is named in this fashion, e.g. Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young), the individual members would in most cases have a separate biographical article. Exceptionally, the bios of artist duos, best known under their joint name, and of some other duos, are drawn together in a single article.

Examples:

• Artist duos: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Pierre et Gilles, Gilbert and George, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer;
• Other duos: Sacco and Vanzetti, Theodora and Didymus, Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi, Godley & Creme

Other

Rare, but here are some examples:

• Del Rubio triplets
• NatWest Three; Guildford Four (without "the": avoid definite article per Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (definite and indefinite articles at beginning of name))
• Wright brothers; de Vriendt brothers (without "the")

Sometimes also for bands, if the members of the group don't have separate biographical articles, some biographical notes regarding the group members are included in the article on the band.

Several articles treating the same person

The essentials of a person's life and significance can generally be summarized in less than 30/32 KB. If additional encyclopedic content seems justified, the Isaac Newton article structure can be followed: split the article on the person in sections: each section giving a summary of another article detailing a specific part of that person's life stage or significance in history. Best to make a link to such other articles in the {{Main|<sub-article name>}} format, immediately under the title of level "==" sections. A similar style with {{Details|<sub-article name>}} templates can be followed, as explained at Misplaced Pages:Summary style.

See also

• Misplaced Pages:Naming conflict
• Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style (biographies)

• Misplaced Pages naming conventions
• WikiProject Biography