Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)

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✔ This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.
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Main article: Wikipedia:Naming conventions

General Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia 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 NPOV way to deal with disambiguation
  • Are in English
  • Are not insulting

For people, this quite often leads to an article name in the following format:

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

The remainder of this guideline is about what happens in these cases when this format is not obvious, or for one or another reason is not followed.

Contents

[edit] 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:

The present guideline gives the general principles. In some cases more specific guidelines also apply, for example: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ancient Romans), Wikipedia:Naming conventions (names and titles) (for monarchs and nobles in a Western tradition after antiquity), Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Western clergy), Wikipedia:Naming conventions (government departments and ministers), and several naming conventions of non-Western cultures. (See the list on Wikipedia:Naming conventions)

[edit] When it seems difficult to follow the "<First Name> <Last Name>" format

Very often the "<First Name> <Last Name>" format doesn't apply. First of all, 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 else 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).

[edit] People from countries where the surname comes first

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, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese), Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Korean), and Wikipedia:Manual of style (Japan-related articles).

[edit] Single name

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

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

More recent examples include (Far East, including South East Asia): Sukarno and Suharto (Indonesia); Hirohito (Japan)

Using exclusively a last name, for which the first name is known, as title of a page on a single person is discouraged, even if that name would be unambiguous, and even if that 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 has however ambiguity with Beethoven (film).

Similarly, don't use a separate first name (even if unambiguous) for the page name of a content page, 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,...) 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, Prince,... all mean more than the name of a single person

[edit] Middle names and abbreviated names

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 Wikipedia article name conform to that format.

For abbreviations:

  • Punctuation marks are generally discouraged in article names (see below): if the version 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.

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 Wikipedia'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.

[edit] Multiple surnames

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: Natalia Krandievskaya Tolstaya – born Natalia Krandievskaya (the latter a patronymic, "Krandiev's-daughter"), she added the female form of Tolstoi, the last name of her husband.
  • 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 exchange their family name with that of their spouse:

In all such cases, continue to apply the general rule that Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia to disambiguate.

[edit] "<First name> of <Location>" 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 conventuals 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 Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia 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)

[edit] Ordinals

Examples:

Disambiguation: only when naming the ordinal explicitly is the commonest way to refer to the person. For example, Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies was also known as Ferdinand III of Sicily and Ferdinand IV of Naples.

[edit] Senior and junior

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:

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 "maior"/"minor or "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)

[edit] Nicknames, pen names, stage names, cognomens

The most used name to refer to a person is generally the one that Wikipedia 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 Wikipedia 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.

However, King Billy can be a redirect, but not the article name for William III of England: there's no reason to use the short name in this case.

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

Further examples:

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.

[edit] Qualifiers not between brackets

Example: Charles, Prince of Wales

However, try to avoid punctuation marks in article names as much as possible. 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: punctuation marks are usually not of great help in navigation. 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:

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:

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.

[edit] Descriptive name

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:

Don't do this for disambiguation alone.

[edit] Qualifier between bracketing parentheses

Examples:

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.

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

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.

[edit] Difficult to disambiguate: some examples

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 how Wikipedians sought to overcome excessive clutter in disambiguators:

[edit] Special cases

[edit] Articles combining biographies of several people

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

[edit] "<First name> <Last name>" format

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 of the persons a separate article.

Exceptions:

[edit] Family name only

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

See Wikipedia: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.

[edit] First name only

Example: Peter

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

[edit] "<name> and <name>" format

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:

[edit] Other

Rare, but here are some examples:

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.

[edit] 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 Wikipedia:Summary style.

[edit] See also