 | Thisguideline documents an English Wikipedianaming convention. Editors should generally follow it, thoughexceptions may apply.Substantive edits to this page should reflectconsensus. When in doubt, discuss first onthis guideline's talk page. |
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This guideline contains conventions on how to name Wikipedia articles about individual people. It should be read in conjunction with Wikipedia's general policy on article naming –Wikipedia:Article titles – and, for articles on living or recently deceased people, theWikipedia:Biographies of living persons policy, which explicitly applies to article titles.
Most biographical articles have titles in the form<First name> <Last name>, as withAlbert Einstein andMargaret Thatcher. This guideline explains how to handle cases where this format is not obvious, or for one reason or another is not followed.
In general this guideline deals with the naming of articleswhere a single article is devoted to a single person (although there are also sections onarticles combining biographies of two or more people andseveral articles treating the same person).
This guideline does not cover articles onorganizations or other non-biographical articles on groups of people, things named after people (Basilica of Saint-Denis,Queen Elizabeth 2), or gods and deities. Naming of such articles may be covered by other relevant guidelines: see the box at top right. Otherwise, consult the general policy onarticle titles.
This guideline also does not apply tofictional characters (for exampleP. D. Q. Bach,Dame Edna Everage), unless when the main biography of the creator of that character is contained on the same page (example:Conchita Wurst, article title treated similar to a stage name). Similarly, the guideline does not apply topseudonyms (e.g.Anna O.) treated in a separate article from the main biography of the person they refer to.
Redirects should be created from other names by which readers are likely to search for articles. For the naming ofdisambiguation pages, seeWikipedia:Disambiguation.
Article titles for certain groups of people are dealt with on more specialized guideline pages. See:
There are also several other naming conventions for specific languages and cultures (see the box at top right).
The "First NameLast Name" format applies to the majority of biographical articles on Wikipedia. These are not usually problematic, except possibly in terms oforthography, which is treated in the guidelines for particular languages (see box at top right).
However, there are also many biographical article titles that do not have "First NameLast Name" format, either because the person has no name in that form, or because they are much better known by some other name. The following sections cover cases where other formats may be considered or where other issues arise with applying the standard format.
Important: provideredirects wherever possible (or appropriate disambiguation where redirects are not possible) for all formats of a name that are in use, or could reasonably be typed in Wikipedia's "Search" box by someone looking for information about that person. For example, "William Jefferson Clinton" would be added as a redirect to "Bill Clinton". This also lets future editors know that the chosen name was intended.
Capitalization: SeeWikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters § Proper names.Names that are not capitalized includek.d. lang anddanah boyd.
The conventions for dealing with such names vary from country to country, and are usually covered in specialized guidelines, such as those forChinese,Korean,Japanese andVietnamese. With Hungarian names, use Western name order (given name before surname).
Sometimes, mostly for names from antiquity, a single word is traditional and sufficient to identify a person unambiguously:Aristotle,Livy,Plutarch,Charlemagne,Fibonacci, etc.
Some modern examples includeSukarno andSuharto of Indonesia, andHirohito of Japan.
Using the last name as the page title for a person, when the first name is also known and used, is discouraged, even if that name would be unambiguous, and even if it consists of more than one word. Unambiguous last names are usually redirects: for example,Ludwig van Beethoven is the title of an article, whileVan Beethoven andBeethoven redirect to that article.
Similarly, don't use a first name (even if unambiguous) for an article title if the last name is known and fairly often used. For example,Oprah Winfrey is the article title, andOprah redirects there. Only if the single name is used as a true artist's name (stage name, pseudonym, etc.) can the recommendations ofNicknames, pen names, stage names, cognomens below be followed.
Exceptionally, the use of a single name without any other qualifier as article title helps in disambiguation, for exampleTacitus (the author) is seldom confused withthe emperor with the same name. More often it doesn't help—for example "Prince" has many meanings—so a disambiguator is still required forPrince (musician).
Generally, use the most common format of a name used in reliable sources: if that is with a middle name or initials, make the Wikipedia article title conform to that format. Examples:John F. Kennedy,Thomas John Barnardo,George H. W. Bush,J. P. Morgan.
For initials:
See also the section aboutpen names, stage names, nicknames and cognomens below: prefer what is most common, e.g.Malcolm X andF. Scott Fitzgerald.
Adding given names, or their abbreviations, merely for disambiguation purposes (if that format of the name isnot commonly used to refer to the person) is not advised.
Some Western cultures use a "double last name" format, or addpatronymics ormatronymics. Also, people sometimes change their surnames, particularly on marriage.
The general rule in such cases is to title the article with the nameby which the person is best known. Some examples are listed below.
Adding or subtracting a second last name or a patronymic artificially, as a disambiguation aid, is rarely advised. The most usual form of the name is the one that should be used.
Some people, particularly historical figures, are known by names in the format "First name ofLocation", such asStephen of Ripon andAnne of Cleves. If, for a given person, this format is more often used than the usual "First nameLast name" format, then it should be used as the article title.
If alternative "locations" are in use, then use the more common one. For example,Jeanne of Flanders andJeanne of Constantinople both refer to the same person, but the first version is slightly more used, so that is the preferred article name.
Formonastics, names in the form "X ofY" may exist whereY is not a location. If a variant with a location exists, that is the version preferred as the article title. For example:
Sometimes the "ofLocation" part is differently formatted:à Kempis inThomas à Kempis would by many be perceived as a surname, but is really 'of Kempen' differently formatted. Such an alternative format is only used for an article title when in English the name is nearly exclusively written in that form.
The "X ofY" format is widely used in Wikipedia formonarchs (see theroyalty and nobility guideline). For many monarchs and saints, this format is useful for disambiguation, although in some cases the ambiguity persists – see for exampleElisabeth of Bohemia (disambiguation).
In the case ofSenior/Junior, the preferred formats differ byvariety of English:
For Classical Roman and Greek subjects,the Elder andthe Younger, or in some casesthe Great[er] andthe Lesser, are preferred (with that capitalization) rather than LatinMajor andMinor.
For guidance on the use of ordinals with the names of European monarchs and other European nobility, see theroyalty and nobility guideline. For others, use ordinals if they are commonly used in reliable sources. Do not place a comma before a Roman numeral designation, e.g.Otis D. Wright II, notOtis D. Wright, II.
For Spanish names, use North American spellingSr. andJr., even if the person is not from Latin America, as most Spanish-speaking countries use the same naming convention for generational suffixes as the United States and Canada.Examples:
The name used most often to refer to a person in reliable sources is generally the one that should be used as the article title, even if it is not the person's "real" name, and even if it appears to pass judgement on the person (as withAlfred the Great).
Examples of pen names, stage names etc. used as article titles:
For guidance on the use ofcognomens or other titles for monarchs and nobles, see theroyalty and nobility guideline.
Article titles are hardly suitable to clarify, explain, or in any other way elaborate on the composition of a name. Any clarification can be placed in the article. Avoid (for example) adding a nickname, or a contracted version of the original given name(s), in quotes or parentheses between first and last name. For example:Bill Clinton, notWilliam "Bill" Clinton. For pseudonyms containing quotation marks or other special characters, seeWP:Article titles § Special characters,WP:Manual of Style/Biography § Pseudonyms, andWP:Manual of Style/Trademarks. To summarize: avoid such a stylization unless it is found in the name in the overwhelming majority of independent reliable sources; e.g."Weird Al" Yankovic, butP!NK →Pink (singer). The page name uses preferably the most commonly used version of the name of that person; other variants should beredirects, and can also be mentioned in the article, as needed.
Styles, such as "His Grace" or "HRH", arenot used in the page titles of biographical articles.
Honorifics and other titles such as "Queen", "Blessed", "Father", "Doctor" are not generally used to begin the titles of biographical articles, unless they are used to form the unambiguous name by which the subject is clearly best known (as inMahatma Gandhi,Mother Teresa orFather Damien).
Where such qualifiersare used, they are not abbreviated. Redirects should be created from commonly used forms containing such qualifiers; this may include abbreviated forms. For example,Blessed John Forest redirects toJohn Forest, andDr Livingstone redirects toDavid Livingstone.
For guidance on the use of the title "Saint", and for clerical titles such as "Pope", see theclergy naming guideline.
For the use of titles in the names of articles on monarchs and other nobility, see theroyalty and nobility guideline.
When the subject is best known by a description, and not by a name, use it.
Exceptionally, when no direct name (not even a nickname) can be given for a person, or when such a name would have too much uncertainty and/or lack wide recognisability, a descriptive article title may be appropriate. For example:
Donot do this for disambiguation alone.
As with many other Wikipedia articles, the titles of articles on people (arrived at using the principles described above) sometimes require furtherdisambiguation. An article title will require disambiguation if there are other articles to which the plain title could also refer,unless the subject of the current article is considered to be theprimary topic for that title.
When there is ausual way of distinguishing two people of the same name, use it. Examples:
If there is no usual form of conventional disambiguation, place a disambiguating tag in parentheses after the name. Examples:
The disambiguator is usually a noun indicating what the person is noted for being in their own right. In most cases, these nouns are standard, commonly used tags such as"(musician)" and"(politician)". Avoid using abbreviations or anything capitalized or containinghyphens, dashes, or numbers, that is apart from instances where more specific guidelines specify particular exceptions. If possible, limit the tag to a single, recognizable and highly applicable term.
Sometimes disambiguators need to be more specific. For example, "Engelbert Humperdinck(musician)" could still refer to two different people, soEngelbert Humperdinck (composer) andEngelbert Humperdinck (singer) are used. Or, failing a practical single qualifier, the disambiguator can be expanded with a second qualifier: e.g.Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) andRoger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer).
Years of birth and death are not normally used as disambiguators, as readers are more likely to be seeking this information than to already know it. Disambiguating by vital year may be necessary when there are multiple people with the same name and same specific disambiguation qualifier. In these cases, use[[Name (qualifier, bornYYYY)]] with a comma andborn unabbreviated (notb.). For example, with two actors named Charles Hawtrey:Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1858) andCharles Hawtrey (actor, born 1914).
For historical figures for whom there is no dominant qualifier (at least no practical one), the descriptor may be omitted in favour of a single use of the date of birth or death. For historical figures, this will often be the date of death, when it is better known, more certain, or is more recognisable than their date of birth, e.g.,Wulfstan (died 956),Wulfstan (died 1023),Wulfstan (died 1095).
When the subject of a biographical articleself-publishes a new name, both thearticle titling andbiographies of living persons policies apply. Particularly relevant:
The determination ofhow much extra weight should be given to more recent sources is guided by the likelihood the new name is going to stick – whileWikipedia is not a crystal ball, it needs to be unavoidable that the new name will soon be the most common name. Examples:
When the subject of a biographical article wants to return to anearlier name (e.g. removing honorifics no longer identified with, abandoning a pen name, etc.), alsoolder sources may carry additional weight when the proposal is to go back to the name given at birth.
Forminor spelling variations (capitalization, diacritics, transliteration, punctuation and spacing after initials, etc.): when a consistent and unambiguous self-published version exists, it is usually followed:
Occasionally, multiple persons with a strong connection are treated in a single article (the individuals may or may not also be the subjects of separate articles). Examples include:
A page titled with a single first name or family name will often be a disambiguation page, for example:Katz. The lead paragraph of such page may contain information about the name (etymology, variants and so on), for example:Peter. If such information consists of more than a short introductory paragraph, it is better to make separate "description" and "disambiguation" pages, for instance:John (name) andJohn—in this caseJohn (disambiguation) redirects to the latter of these pages.Jean only has a disambiguation page, but the introduction of this page links toJohn (name) for the etymology.
If several people share the same name, adisambiguation page (or disambiguation using hatnotes) is generally used. Occasionally, however, a single page may be created for a number of people with the same name. (SeeCategory:Groups of people andTemplate:R to joint biography.)
This is quite often done for ancient Roman names such asJulia (women of the Julii Caesares). Brief information is given on each person in a separate section, with a link to an individual article on that person if one exists. Even if there are no separate articles, the same layout can be used, that is: one==...== section per person by this name (example:Lucius Valerius Flaccus). A mixed example (some sectionssummarizing stand-alone articles, while others have none to cross-reference) can be found atLucius Julius Caesar. (Such pages are placed inCategory:Groups of ancient Romans.)
The essentials of a person's life and significance can generally be summarized in30–50 KB or less. If additional encyclopedic content seems justified, theIsaac Newton article structure can be followed: arrange the article on the person into sections, each giving asummary of another article detailing a specific part of that person's life or significance in history. It is best to link from the top of each such section to the relevant stand-alone article, using a template:{{Main|Article name here}}. For articles with a less hierarchical relationship,some other templates are also available.