Wikipedia:WikiProject France/Conventions

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Contents 1 Conventions on French names, places and titles 1.1 Proper names and titles 1.2 City names 1.3 Titles of works of art 1.4 Biographical data

[edit] Conventions on French names, places and titles

The most general rule of the Wikipedia is that editors should use the most common form of the name or expression used in English. There are however many cases in which this rule is difficult to put into practice.

When giving a parenthetical French expression after a English word, editors may use {{lang-fr|word}} where "word" is the French word. Example: National Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale).

[edit] Proper names and titles

In Wikipedia article titles, French noble titles are currently listed in two different ways:

1. in English translation (Duke of, Count of...) for historical figures and royalty most well-known by their English forms.
2. in French for other cases, maintaining the French title spelling (seigneur, chevalier, marquis, duc, comte) and the de.

Furthermore, in the second case, capitalization is currently chaotic:

• in French with lowercase spelling: comtesse de, marquis de... (e.g. Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné; Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet; Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme; François Hédelin, abbé d'Aubignac; Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz; this is the correct form in French and is the form used in article titles on the French wiki)
• in French with capital spelling: Comtesse de, Marquis de... (e.g. Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu; Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon; Constantin-François de Chassebœuf, Comte de Volney; this is a Franco-English hybrid form which fits with capitalization rules of an English-user).

The current concensus is that all articles with French titles using de should have the title in lowercase. For more on these issues, see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles).

[edit] City names

Where possible, articles on cities and communes in France should go under [[placename]]. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should use the "comma convention" and go under [[placename, département]]. Thus Tours, but Duras, Lot-et-Garonne and Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Note that on the French wikipedia, disambiguation is done with the "parentheses convention" and cities appear as [[placename (département x)]]. (See also Wikipedia:Naming conventions (city names)).

[edit] Titles of works of art

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization)#Capitalization of expressions borrowed from other languages

In Wikipedia article titles, French titles are currently listed in several different ways:

• in English translation, if the work of art is well-known by its title in English
• in French (with redirects from the English title), if it is more well-known by its title in French.

Capitalization is currently chaotic. For consistency sake (and for esthetic reasons), it is suggested that the first word of the title after the definite (le, la, les, l') or indefinite (un, une, des) articles be capitalized, as well as any proper name or place name. Examples:

• La Peau de chagrin (not "La peau de chagrin" or "La Peau de Chagrin")
• L'Œuvre
• Le Ventre de Paris

[edit] Biographical data

For smaller communes, one should include the name of the French département after the town or city name.