Wikipedia:Naming conventions (settlements)

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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.
Main article: Wikipedia:Naming conventions
parent: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (toponyms)

Contents

Please remember that these conventions for naming settlements are merely guidelines, not rules written in stone. They permit the exercise of common sense, and have occasional exceptions. They are free to be amended, but it is wise to discuss any major amendment on the talk page first.

[edit] Coverage

[edit] which articles

[edit] which issues

  • English vs. local name(s) (if existent)
  • disambiguation
    • when to disambiguate
      • primary topic
      • preemptive dab
    • how to disambiguate
      • comma convention
      • parenthesis
      • use of settlement term, e.g. "X (city)"

[edit] General rules

The general rule is to name an article about a city or town with a name that does not conflict with any other town or concept as city name. The rest of this naming convention contains guidelines about naming the articles where disambiguation is required. Articles about cities and towns in some countries should be "pre-disambiguated", by having the article named as if there is a name conflict, even if one is not known at the time of writing the article. In these cases, a redirect should usually be created at the primary name, pointing to the new article, until such time as a disambiguation page is actually required.

If there is no national convention on a given country, and there is a clear pattern among the articles on places in that country, follow it; both on whether to pre-disambiguate and what form of disambiguation to use; if there is no pattern, it is probably better to leave unique names undismabiguated. Please note any such pattern here, as a proposed national convention.

The most common way of disambiguating town and city names is to follow the name with a comma, a space and the name of the state, province, or county that it is in, or the name of the country if no second-level administrative region applies. Note that this is different to the common ways of disambiguating other kinds of places and objects, which usually place the disambiguating term in parentheses instead of after a comma.

The primary goal of this naming convention is to achieve consistency within each country. It does not necessarily achieve complete consistency across countries. Hence the remainder of the page is divided into specific guidelines for individual countries where required.

If disambiguation is needed this can be done

  • X, Y (currently the most used method)
  • X (Y)
  • X (city)

where Y is a higher level entity, e.g. a province or the country.

Using "X, Y" is a little bit like saying "X (city in Y)".

[edit] By country

There is currently an effort to create a world-wide naming convention: please see Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (settlements).

[edit] Africa

Where possible, articles on places in Africa should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, they should go under [[placename, nation]]: thus, Addis Ababa but Shire, Ethiopia. An exception to this is South Africa, where a [[placename, province]], disambiguation convention has evolved for when a city cannot go at placename.

[edit] Asia

[edit] Hong Kong

Where possible, articles on places in Hong Kong should go under [[placename]]. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under [[placename, Hong Kong]]. Thus Quarry Bay but Stanley, Hong Kong.

[edit] India

This is a proposed addition to the naming convention, for which there has not been any clear consensus established.

Articles on places in India go under [[placename]]. When disambiguation is needed, articles go under [[Cityname, State]] (e.g., Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh). For cities that shares its name with other countries (e.g., Hyderabad) the disambiguation style preferred is Hyderabad (India).

This is another proposed addition to the naming convention, for which there has not been any clear consensus established.

Articles on settlements in India follow the dab-layout rules used by all other settlements around the world, i.e. use comma not brackets. When disambiguation is needed, articles go under [[Cityname, Specifier]] where Specifier can be "India", a state name or a district name.

[edit] Philippines

Where possible, articles on cities go at [[Cityname City]] (e.g. Dumaguete City). When disambiguation is needed, articles go under [[Cityname City, Province]] (e.g. Valencia City, Bukidnon). All municipalities are under the format [[Municipalityname, Province]] (e.g. Valencia, Negros Oriental).

[edit] Europe

In the absence of a common English name, the current local name of the city should be used. When mentioned in a historical context, if there is not a common English name for the city in that historical period and context, use the appropriate historical name, with the current local name in parentheses (if it is not the same word) the first time the city is mentioned. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names) for details.

[edit] Belarus

  1. Major cities (voblast (province) capitals) are named by the most common English usage
  2. All other settlements are named by national rules
  3. Exceptions always exist; may be discussed case by case.

[edit] Finland

See Toponyms of Finland.

Article names should be on province's, municipality's, region's or sub-region's majority language (ie. Finnish or Swedish), unless there is a well established name in English. The minority language of the area should be mentioned in the lead chapter either in bold (if the municipality is bilingual), or in italics (if the municipality is unilingual). The second name needs to be recognised by the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland (see list), or otherwise referenced.

The secondary names of municipalities should not be mentioned in other articles than the article about the municipality itself (ie. applying Helsinki (Swedish: Helsingfors) to an article that is not Helsinki), unless it is of a special interest, as the secondary name can be seen in the main article's lead chapter.

Place names of Sami Domicile Area should be mentioned in Sami languages in the article's lead chapter in italics.

[edit] France

See Wikipedia:France-related topics notice board for details on naming conventions.

[edit] Germany

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Germany/Conventions for current naming conventions

[edit] Italy

Places in Italy are disambiguated by province (abbreviated name in parentheses) as is the universal custom in Italy. Thus: Manciano (AR), Manciano (GR).

[edit] Ireland

Where possible, articles on places in Ireland should go under [[placename]]. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under [[placename, County x]]. Thus Castlebar but Westport, County Mayo. This same convention applies to both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

[edit] Norway

WikiProject Norway#Naming details article title conventions.

[edit] Poland

Use the common English name or in absence thereof, the current Polish name. When mentioned in a historical context, if there is not a common English name for the city in that historical period and context, use the appropriate historical name with the current Polish name in parentheses (if it is not the same word) the first time the city is mentioned.

[edit] Russia

This naming convention covers all types of inhabited localities in Russia: cities/towns, urban-type settlements, and all kinds of rural localities.

Always use common English name of the locality. In absence thereof, use romanized Russian name, as per the WP:RUS guidelines.

  • When the name of the locality is not unique within Russia, use comma-separated name of the federal subject on the territory of which the locality is situated (e.g., Oktyabrsky, Republic of Bashkortostan). If the name of the locality is not unique within a federal subject, precede the federal subject disambiguator with the name of the district on the territory of which the locality is situated (e.g., Vesyoly, Shovgenovsky District, Republic of Adygea).
  • When the name of the locality is unique within Russia, but conflicts with the name of another locality in a different country, disambiguate the name with "Russia" (e.g., Dimitrovgrad, Russia).
  • When the name of the locality is completely unique, but conflicts with the name of a different concept, use the parenthesized locality type as disambiguator (e.g., Kalevala (urban-type settlement)).

[edit] Switzerland

WikiProject Swiss municipalities details conventions for article titles.

[edit] United Kingdom

Where possible, articles on places in the United Kingdom should go under [[placename]]. Where disambiguation is needed, a different system exists in each of the home nations. Disambiguation should never be to post town, former postal county or postcode district.

[edit] England

In England, disambiguated place names should go under [[placename, ceremonial county]]. Thus Boston, Lincolnshire, and Hyde, Greater Manchester not Hyde, Cheshire (which is a redirect page) or Hyde, England. Where county boundaries have changed, policy is under Wikipedia:Naming conventions (places)#Counties of Britain.

Where further disambiguation is needed (i.e. there are two identical [[placename]]s within the same county), use the local government district. Thus Moorside, Oldham, and Moorside, Salford (not Moorside, Metropolitan Borough of Oldham or Moorside, City of Salford).

[edit] London

In London/Greater London, disambiguated place names should go under [[placename, London]]. Thus Rainham, London not Rainham, Greater London (which is a redirect page). Where two places exist within London, use the London Borough (in short form), so for the two Belmonts, they become Belmont, Sutton and Belmont, Harrow.

[edit] Wales

In Wales, disambiguated place names should go under [[placename, principal area]]. Thus Queensferry, Flintshire, not Queensferry, Wales (which is a redirect page) or Queensferry, Clwyd.

[edit] Scotland

Where possible, articles on places in Scotland should go under [[placename]]. Thus Glasgow, not Glasgow, Scotland. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under [[placename, Scotland]]. Thus Perth, Scotland, not Perth, Perth and Kinross. Where disambiguation is still needed, articles should go under [[placename, Council Area x]]. Thus Abernethy, Highland and Abernethy, Perth and Kinross. If, even then, disambiguation is still needed, then another form of natural and recognisable disambiguation should be sought, such as traditional regions, committee areas, etc, as in Kinnaird, Gowrie and Kinnaird, Atholl, both in Scotland and in Perth and Kinross.

[edit] Northern Ireland

Where possible, articles on places in Northern Ireland should go under [[placename]]. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under [[placename, County x]]. Thus Omagh but Bangor, County Down. This same convention applies to the Republic of Ireland.

[edit] Isle of Man

Where possible, articles on places on the Isle of Man should go under [[placename]]. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under [[placename, Isle of Man]]. Thus Castletown but Peel, Isle of Man.

[edit] North America

[edit] Canada

See Canadian Style Guide for naming conventions.

[edit] Mexico

Mexican geographical articles go under [[Placename]] when possible: Acapulco, Hermosillo. If disambiguation is needed, [[Placename, State]], is used (the "comma convention", as in Nogales, Sonora, or Córdoba, Veracruz). The cities that share names with states have been placed at [[Placename, State]]], with the state taking the [[Placename]] location: for example, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, (city) and Oaxaca (state).

[edit] United States

The canonical form for cities in the United States is [[City, State]] (the "comma convention"). Those cities that need additional disambiguation include their county or parish (for example Elgin, Lancaster County, South Carolina and Elgin, Kershaw County, South Carolina). If more than one city, town, or census-designated place within the same county has the same name, specify the type of local government unit in parentheses before the comma (e.g. Poughkeepsie (city), New York and Poughkeepsie (town), New York, but not "Poughkeepsie, New York (city)").

Cities listed in the AP Stylebook as not requiring the state modifier may be listed at [[City]] if they are the primary topic for that name. Cities that meet these criteria are: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle. No other city should be listed at [[City]].

As of January 2008, only three articles about U.S. cities do not use the "comma convention"—Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia. If you think any of the other articles listed above should be moved to [[City]] instead of [[City, State]], please start a discussion via Wikipedia:Requested moves. Due to its peculiar location across a state line, one unincorporated community bears both states' names: Glenrio, New Mexico and Texas.

A United States city's article should never be titled "city, country" (e.g. "Detroit, United States") or "city, state, country" (e.g. "Boston, Massachusetts, USA").

[edit] Oceania

[edit] Australia

All Australian town/city/suburb articles are at [[Town, State]] no matter what their status of ambiguity is. Capital Cities will be excepted from this rule and preferentially made [[City]]. The unqualified [[Town]] should be either a redirect or disambig page. Local government areas are at their official name.

[edit] New Zealand

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (New Zealand) for current naming conventions.

[edit] South America

[edit] Argentina

If disambiguation is required [[City, Province]] is used, except for provincial capitals which use [[City, Argentina]]. See Category:Cities in Argentina and its subcategories.

[edit] Brazil

Brazilian cities go under their disambiguated name when possible. When there's ambiguity, the convention used is [[City, State]]. An exception happens when the city name and the state name are the same: Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (state), São Paulo, São Paulo (state).

[edit] Chile

There is no established naming convention on Chilean settlements. A new guideline is being discussed at Wikipedia:Chile-related regional notice board. You are invited to participate.

[edit] Fictional cities

In order to make the distinction clear, cities which represent a fictional setting do not follow the same naming convention as real locations, even if the fictional city is said to be within a real state, province, or other subdivision. For example:

When necessary to disambiguate with other articles, preference is given to using the author's name (literature), the name of the work (television or movies), or other connective quality.