Wikipedia:Naming conventions (identity)

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The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as "policy".

Main guideline: Wikipedia:Naming conventions

Naming conventions (identity) is a Wikipedia guideline for dealing with issues of labeling people and organizations in Wikipedia articles. It dosn't address the use of proper names for individuals. For the guideline on referring to individuals by name, see WP:COMMONNAME.

Labeling in a manner which is neither offensive nor contrary to the wishes of those about whom we are writing articles is not only good etiquette, but also helps to reduce editorial conflicts about which specific labels should be used in a given article.

Contents 1 General guidelines 1.1 Self-identification 1.2 Be specific 1.3 Be neutral 1.4 Avoid gratuitous references 1.5 Pay attention to the person's specific cultural context 2 Preferred terms 2.1 Ethnic and national identities 2.2 Indigenous peoples 2.3 Sex and sexual identities

[edit] General guidelines

When in doubt, or when editing a controversial article, take the time to read the article's talk page before editing. Often, compromises on specific articles or terms have been hashed out at considerable cost in terms of personal time and effort. Aim for consensus.

[edit] Self-identification

Use the name(s) and terminology that the individual or organization themselves use.

• Self identification: When naming or writing an article about specific groups or their members always use the terminology which those individuals or organizations themselves use. Transsexual people, for example, should be referred to using the personal pronouns (male, female, or another) that they themselves prefer.
• Do not assume that a different term is more inclusive or accurate. For example, a person who appears female or who was born female may identify as male or something else other than female.

[edit] Be specific

Be as specific as possible.

• Use the most specific terminology available. If someone is of Ethiopian descent, describe them as "Ethiopian," not "African."
• Almost always use terms as adjectives rather than nouns, thus, black people, not blacks; gay people, not gays, and so on. Note that there may be exceptions to this rule: for example, some prefer the term "transgenders" to the term "transgendered people."

[edit] Be neutral

Where there is doubt, aim for neutrality.

• Some terms are considered pejorative, or have negative associations, even if they are quite commonly used. Even though people may use these terms themselves, they may not appreciate being referred to by such terms by others (for example, faggot, nigger, tranny). Note that neutral terminology is not necessarily the most common term — a term that the person or their cultural group does not accept for themselves is not neutral even if it remains the most widely used term among outsiders.
• However, do not be so general as to render terms meaningless.

[edit] Avoid gratuitous references

Do not call more attention to a person's identity labels than is strictly necessary.

• While it is appropriate for an article to note that a person is African-American, gay, Christian, etc., and to discuss the ways in which those identities have impacted their work, it is never necessary or appropriate for an article to constantly qualify the person as a "gay writer" or an "African-American linguist".
• Further, it is only rarely, if ever, necessary for a reference to the person's cultural, religious, sexual or gender identities to be present in the very first sentence of the article before their occupation has even been mentioned. For example, it is usually more appropriate for an article to begin "John Smith is an American writer", and then discuss his sexual orientation later in the article, than for the article to begin "John Smith is a gay writer from the United States."

[edit] Pay attention to the person's specific cultural context

Do not impose a label that you think should be used by the cultural group in question, if it's not the label that is used by the group in question.

• While coloured is considered inappropriate in the United States, it is the standard and normal designation of a specific cultural group in South Africa which uses that term for itself. Do not impose an alternate term that would be considered more acceptable in the United States but is not known or recognized by South African Coloured community itself.
• Similarly, while "black" is considered outdated in the United States, demographic differences in Canada — where 71 per cent of the country's "black" population are of Caribbean rather than African origin — mean that African-Canadian cannot be used as a substitute for Black Canadian in most cases. The fact that African-American is considered inclusive of Caribbean "blacks" in the United States is not relevant — the fact that the Caribbean community in Canada have rejected "African-Canadian" as a label inclusive of them is the final word whether you agree with that choice or not.

[edit] Preferred terms

[edit] Ethnic and national identities

• Avoid outdated terms when referring to present-day people. However, historic terms can be appropriate when describing historic usage, or in description of past eras.
• Avoid unclarified use of ambiguous terms. For example, "Asian" can connote South Asian in the United Kingdom, but East Asian in the United States.
• Physical anthropology terms such as Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid are not appropriate for contemporary ethnic, national or social identities, and should be used only in their correct scientific or historical context.
• "Caucasian" in the meaning of "pertaining to the Caucasus region" is correct, though clarification distinguishing this usage from that of Caucasian race may be helpful.
• "Chinese" or "Chinese person" are preferred over "Chinaman," which is outdated and has racist connotations.
• Roma is preferred over gypsy when referring to the ethnic group, although the terms are not always synonymous
• For Scottish clans see Category:Scottish clans

dedicated guidelines:

• Kosovan/Kosovar
• Chinese
• Irish

[edit] Indigenous peoples

• A 1996 survey revealed that "natives" in the United States preferred "American Indian" to "Native American," although "Native American" is also generally acceptable[1]. Neither of these terms is generally used in Alaska, where the term Eskimo is sometimes offensive, and Alaska Native is usually preferred.
• In Canada, the term "Aboriginal peoples" is preferred over "natives" as a collective term. "Aboriginal" encompasses First Nations, the Métis and the Inuit; the term "First Nations" refers only to "Indian" groups and does not encompass the latter two groups.
• Note that it is never appropriate to describe an aboriginal Canadian as "American Indian" or "Native American". Although these terms are commonly used within the United States to collectively denote all indigenous peoples of North and South America regardless of which individual country they reside in, the terms are widely rejected by people outside of that country due to the potential ambiguity of the word "American". The terms should only be used this way in the very broadest contexts — specifically where the article is explicitly a broad, transnational summary of very general aspects of indigenous North and South American cultures. It is always preferable to refer to groups and individuals as specifically as is appropriate in the context — the individual nation to which a person belongs (e.g. Inuit, Navajo, Anishnaabe, Abenaki, etc.) should be used instead of broad umbrella terms such as "Indian", "native" or "First Nations" whenever possible. See Native American name controversy for more terms and background.
• In Australia, both "aboriginal" and "indigenous" are used as collective adjectives; individual people and institutions should always be referred to by the specific groups with which they identify (see List of Indigenous Australian group names). However, "aborigine" is strongly deprecated as a noun.

[edit] Sex and sexual identities

• For people the terms "gay" (often, but not always, used for males only) and "lesbian" (which is used for females only) are preferred over "homosexual," which has clinical associations and is often considered pejorative. However, homosexual may be used in describing people in certain instances, in particular in historical contexts.
• For sexual behaviors, "homosexual" may be acceptable, although in many cases "same-sex" can and should be used instead. For instance, articles discussing the question of legalizing or banning marriage between two people of the same gender should refer to same-sex marriage rather than "homosexual marriage" or "gay marriage".
• Two-Spirit is preferred over berdache. However, the latter term is appropriate in historical contexts, specifically when discussing the defined and specific role of the berdache within historical aboriginal cultures.
• Transgender people should be referred to using pronouns consistent with their current gender identification. If unsure, it may be acceptable to employ terms consistent with the person's gender presentation: for example, if a person lives as female and appears female, it is probably fine to describe her using female pronouns. Note that it is not necessary for a person to have completed sex reassignment surgery — use the pronouns consistent with the person's public gender presentation, not the pronouns consistent with the current configuration of their genitalia.
• The terms transman and transwoman are somewhat preferable when needing to discuss a person's transsexual identity outside of a clinical context, as they are clear and potentially less degrading than alternatives and can be used in the same manner as the terms "man" or "woman." Note, however, that it is not necessary, desirable, or appropriate to qualify every reference to a transsexual's gender with a reference to their transsexuality.