In general,Wikipedia articles havesingular titles; for example, our article on theCanis familiaris species is atDog, notDogs. This rule exists to promoteconsistency in our article titles, and generally leads to slightly moreconcise titles as well.
Exceptions exist for two general types of articles.
Articles on groups of distinct entities that are nevertheless often considered together (preceded almost invariably by the word "the"), such as theFlorida Keys, theAmericas, or theRivers of New Zealand.
Things likeMaxwell's equations,Legendre polynomials,Chebyshev polynomials, [the]Cauchy–Riemann equations, etc. The topic is naturally theset orfamily of equations, although in some contexts they may be referred to in the singular. (That is, such a polynomial—for example—is of interest only because it is part of thepolynomial sequence called theChebyshev polynomials, and the sequence is thought of for most purposes as a unit.) Similarly, one is much more likely to mentionArabic numerals than a particular Arabic numeral.
Things likeSkew coordinates. Although one may speak of the second skew coordinate of a point, the article is on thesystem of coordinates.
Articles that actually distinguish among multiple distinct instances of related items can be sensibly given a plural title when the alternative would be to create an inappropriately large number of short articles, one on each instance. The variousZeno's paradoxes, for instance, are incorporated into one article, with a correspondingly plural name.
Band names and the names of sports teams such asThe Beatles or theSeattle Seahawks should be at their plural title.
Articles about measurement units, including compound units, should generally be singular (so "Foot per second" rather than "Feet per second"). For measurement units formed by combining an object or event with a unit ("Lines per inch" or "Flashes per minute"), the plural form may be acceptable if overwhelmingly favored indefinitions of the unit by reliable sources.
With irregular plurals whose usage far exceeds the usage of the singular, thecommon andunastonishing plural titlesBacteria,Algae, andData are preferred overBacterium,Alga, andDatum (although some would argue thatdata is amass noun and, as such, is already singular).
In rare circumstances, weignore the rules here in order to make the encyclopedia better.
These rules apply only toarticles.Categories are almost always given plural titles, and manytemplates are as well.
Sometimes, however, a plural form will establish a separateprimary topic.Windows does not redirect toWindow, but rather toMicrosoft Windows;Snickers is about the chocolate bar, whileSnicker redirects toLaughter. It may also be the case that a singular form (Axe) has a primary topic, while a plural form (Axes, which is the plural of both Axe and Axis) does not, or vice versa (Android is a disambiguation page, butAndroids redirects toAndroid (robot)).
Discussion andconsensus among editors, possibly through arequested move, determines if there is or is not a primary topic. For instance, discussion and consensus might determine thatCars should redirect toCar (as it currently does), redirect toCar (disambiguation), or host a topic such asCars (film).
In making such a determination:
A plural form is treated like any other topic.
The relationship between a singular and its plural is important, but not the only consideration. Because readers and editors are used to seeing titles at the singular form, and can be expected to search for them/link to them in the singular form, the intentional use of a plural form by a reader or editor can be evidence that a separate primary topic exists at the plural form. At the same time, readers and editors are used to the fact that plural forms usually redirect to their equivalent singulars and thus are likely to expect to be redirected to a singular title when looking for something else.
Since normally users can be expected to search/link for/to topics using the singular form, searching/linking with a plural form is likely to be for a topic named with the plural form, when applicable. Example:Queens, the New York City borough, is the primary topic for the plural form of "queen". At the same time, since readers and editors expect plural redirects,Parachutes is aWP:PRIMARYREDIRECT to thedevice rather than being about theColdplay album.
If the singular is not usually treated as acountable noun, that makes it far more likely that a split is the best decision. For example,time is a straightforward and obvious primary topic, but usually we don't treat "time" as something with a plural. Accordingly,times does not redirect totime, but rather to a different topic (in this caseTime (disambiguation)).
A plural of a countable noun should never be treated as apartial title match when determining primary topic.
Encyclopedic uses are given more weight thandictionary uses, perWP:NOTADICTIONARY. This may mean that if there is not an article at the singular form, it is more likely that a plural form can establish a separate primary topic.
Just as with any other title, a plural base title can direct to an article (Snickers), or to a disambiguation page (Suns). A plural base title can also redirect to an article (Bookends redirects toBookend;Faces redirects toFace).
If separate primary topics are determined, add ahatnote from the plural page to the singular form (or vice versa).
Sometimes, what appears to be a plural form may also be a separate word, which can influence the primary topic decision. (Walls can be the plural of "wall", but can also be a separate placename or surname.)
Sometimes, even when a singular might be ambiguous and lead to a disambiguation page, a plural might be (relatively) unambiguous and lead to a particular singular use;Oranges leads toOrange (fruit), not to the disambiguation page atOrange. This is primarily because only a noun can be pluralized, and the only other "orange" whose notability rivals that of the fruit is the color, and even though technically an interior designercould talk about choosing among several different oranges for the color of the curtains, usually only the fruit is pluralized in common usage.[1] The reverse can also be true, and often is:Paper is a stable primary topic, butpapers is highly ambiguous (since "paper" is typically anuncountable noun), and accordingly redirects topaper (disambiguation).
Using a plural as a separate primary topic is not specifically encouraged or discouraged; this page only describes the conditions where it is appropriate to do so.
