Wikipedia:Naming conventions (landforms)

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for articles and categories in Category:Landforms by country and oceans

See related

1 General
- 1.1 Translation of terms
- 1.2 Translation of full title
2 Country specific
3 Landform specific

[edit] General

Landforms go by their name X if possible. For disambiguation the following can be used, where term is a placeholder for the landform, e.g. river, beach, peninsula, mountain, peak:

X Term - the most widely used method
Term X
- Mount X - allways. X Mount never used.
- Lake X - often.
- River X - only UK and Ireland
X (term)
- craters use it
X term - very rarely used, articles should probably moved to "X Term"
- except: craters use it a lot

If two X Term exist in different locations than the topic can be further disambiguated, by an identifier Y.

X Term (Y)
X (term in Y)
X Term, Y - not used very much
- New Zealand and UK uses this

[edit] Translation of terms

Currently some terms are translated into english. Some are not. And sometimes "X Foreignterm Englishterm" is used

Rio Parana -> Parana River
Göta älv -> Göta River

But not

Amu Darya - Amu River
X La - X Pass (see Category:Mountain passes of India)

[edit] Translation of full title

Huang He -> Yellow River

[edit] Country specific

Country specific approaches should be avoided in physical geography.

[edit] Landform specific

[edit] Lakes

from: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lakes#Naming

As of the first stages of development, no written-in-stone rules apply to Lake articles, however this may change. Please discuss this in the talk page.

[edit] Multiple lakes with the same name

Due to the fact that there are countless lakes in the world with the same name, the following method of disambiguation is proposed:

The most important lake can stay at the undisambiguated title, lesser known ones add a qualifier. Perhaps Fork Lake, Fork Lake (disambiguation), Fork Lake (Alberta).

[edit] Lakes with multiple names

Some lakes have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the rivers pass through. Occasionally, a lake can have several genuinely distinct names. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a river:

If the lake is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.
If the portion of the lake that uses a particular name is much more distinct than other sections, then use that as the wikiname.
If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the largest portion of the lake.

[edit] Rivers

from: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Rivers#Naming

River articles may be named "X", "X River", or "River X", depending on location and most common usage. "X river" and "X (river)" are not recommended.

This does not say what has to be used in general, whether plain "X" or "X River" (e.g. rivers of Germany are currently mostly "River"-less). "River X" is used for rivers in the UK and Ireland.

If different rivers with the same name exist, use bracket-disambiguation (e.g. Vils (Danube), Turiec River (Váh), Bistriţa River (Moldavia), Colorado River (Texas)).

[edit] Multiple rivers with the same name

Due to the fact that there are countless rivers in the world with the same name (e.g. the Columbia River has two tributaries named the Salmon River, and one more has been identified in Nova Scotia), not all of which are recent namings in the Americas (e.g. there are four rivers in England called River Avon), the following method of disambiguation is proposed:

The most important river can stay at the undisambiguated title, lesser known ones add a qualifier. So. Jordan River, Jordan River (disambiguation), Jordan River (Utah)
In practice, most rivers needing disambiguation have been identified by the smallest appropriate political entity. So Colorado River and Colorado River (Texas).
- Always use parentheses for the disambiguator for U.S. and Australian rivers, not a comma. For example Indian River (Michigan) not Indian River, Michigan which is actually a town. New Zealand and British rivers use the "River, place" format, as per their overall place-naming conventions.
A river can be identified uniquely as a tributary of another river. It should be named with the name of the principal river following in parentheses. So St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan) and St. Joseph River (Maumee River)
If a river with a shared name empties directly into a lake or definable sea, then the name of that body of water could follow in parentheses, as in Jordan River (Dead Sea). (any current example?)
Failing that, the name of the continent could follow in parentheses, as in Rio Grande (North America). (any current examples?)

[edit] Rivers with multiple names

Some rivers have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the rivers pass through. (An example would be the Cunene River in Angola, which is known as the Kunene River in Namibia. Occasionally, a river can have several genuinely distinct names. For example, the Cuando River not only has the variant spelling Kwando, it's also called the Linyanti and the Chobe. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a river:

If the river is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.
If the section of the river that uses a particular name is much longer than other sections, then use that as the name.
If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the section of the river closest to the river's mouth, since generally that is where the river is widest.