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, also in conjunction with the
Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons
policy, which explicitly also applies to article titles.
Most biographical articles have titles in the form
<First name> <Last name>
, as with
Albert Einstein
and
Margaret Thatcher
. This guideline explains how to handle cases where this format is not obvious, or for one reason or other is not followed.
In general this guideline deals with the naming of articles
where a single article is devoted to a single person
(although there are also sections on
articles combining biographies of several people
and
several articles treating the same person
).
This guideline does not cover articles on
organizations 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 on
article titles
.
This guideline also does not apply to
fictional characters
(for example
P. 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 to
pseudonyms
(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 of
disambiguation
pages, see
Wikipedia: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 Name
Last Name
" format applies to the majority of biographical articles on Wikipedia. These are not usually problematic, except possibly in terms of
orthography
, 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 Name
Last 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
: provide
redirects
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
: See
Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Capital letters § Proper names
.
Names that are not capitalized
include
k.d. lang
and
danah boyd
.
People from countries where the surname comes first
[
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]
The conventions for dealing with such names vary from country to country, and are usually covered in specialized guidelines, such as those for
Chinese
,
Korean
,
Japanese
and
Vietnamese
. With Hungarian names, use Western name order (given name before surname).
Single name
[
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]
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 include
Sukarno
and
Suharto
of Indonesia, and
Hirohito
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, while
Van Beethoven
and
Beethoven
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, and
Oprah
redirects there. Only if the single name is used as a true artist's name (stage name, pseudonym, etc.) can the recommendations of
Nicknames, 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 example
Tacitus
(the author) is seldom confused with
the emperor with the same name
. More often it doesn't help?for example "
Prince
" has many meanings?so a disambiguator is still required for
Prince (musician)
.
Middle names and initials
[
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]
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 about
pen names, stage names, nicknames and cognomens
below: prefer what is most common, e.g.
Malcolm X
and
F. Scott Fitzgerald
.
Adding given names, or their abbreviations, merely for disambiguation purposes (if that format of the name is
not commonly
used to refer to the person) is not advised.
Multiple and changed surnames ? patronymics and matronymics
[
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]
Some Western cultures use a "double last name" format, or add
patronymics
or
matronymics
. Also, people sometimes change their surnames, particularly on marriage.
The general rule in such cases is to title the article with the name
by which the person is best known
. Some examples are listed below.
- Josep Puig i Cadafalch
?
Puig
is the last name of his father,
Cadafalch
of his mother;
i
means 'and' (see
Iberian naming customs
).
- Antoni Gaudi
? not
Antoni Gaudi i Cornet
; this architect is better known without the mother's surname.
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
?
Ilyich
is a patronymic based on the first name of the father (see
Eastern Slavic naming customs#Patronymic
). Only for very few Russians is the patronymic customary in English, notwithstanding widespread use of patronymics in the native language.
- Tatiana Sukhotina-Tolstaya
? on marriage, she combined the feminized versions of her husband's and father's surnames. The patronymic (
Lvovna
) is not used in the page title in this case.
- Virginia Woolf
? born Adeline Virginia Stephen, she took the married surname Woolf. The article title contains
Woolf
because that is the name by which she is best known.
- Vita Sackville-West
? her birth name, not her married name Vita Nicolson, which is rarely used.
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.
"X of Y" format
[
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]
Some people, particularly historical figures, are known by names in the format "
First name
of
Location
", such as
Stephen of Ripon
and
Anne of Cleves
. If, for a given person, this format is more often used than the usual "
First name
Last 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
and
Jeanne of Constantinople
both refer to the same person, but the first version is slightly more used, so that is the preferred article name.
For
monastics
, names in the form "
X
of
Y
" may exist where
Y
is not a location. If a variant with a location exists, that is the version preferred as the article title. For example:
- Teresa of Avila
, not
Teresa of Jesus
(translation of
Teresa de Jesus
, the way she signed her letters and was known in her convent); but
- John of the Cross
, translation of
Juan de la Cruz
; no variant with a location available.
Sometimes the "of
Location
" part is differently formatted:
a Kempis
in
Thomas a 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
of
Y
" format is widely used in Wikipedia for
monarchs
(see the
royalty and nobility guideline
). For many monarchs and saints, this format is useful for disambiguation, although in some cases the ambiguity persists ? see for example
Elisabeth of Bohemia (disambiguation)
.
Junior/Senior ? the Younger/the Elder ? Ordinals
[
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]
In the case of
Senior/Junior
, the preferred formats differ by
variety of English
:
- North American English:
Sr.
or
Jr.
written after the name,
without a comma
, and with a period.
- Commonwealth English:
Sr
or
Jr
written after the name, with neither a comma nor a full point. The
Snr
and
Jnr
spellings are attested but in decline, and are not recommended on Wikipedia.
For Classical Roman and Greek subjects,
the Elder
and
the Younger
, or in some cases
the Great[er]
and
the Lesser
, are preferred (with that capitalization) rather than Latin
Major
and
Minor
.
For guidance on the use of ordinals with the names of European monarchs and other European nobility, see the
royalty 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
, not
Otis D. Wright, II
.
For Spanish names, use North American spelling
Sr.
and
Jr.
, 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:
Nicknames, pen names, stage names, cognomens
[
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]
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 with
Alfred the Great
).
Examples of pen names, stage names etc. used as article titles:
- George Eliot
, pen name of Mary Ann Evans
- H. G. Wells
: as an author, Herbert George Wells abbreviated both his forenames
- Le Corbusier
, not Charles-Edouard Jeanneret
- Scotty Bowman
, not William Scott Bowman
- Dizzy Gillespie
, not John Birks Gillespie
- 50 Cent
, not Curtis James Jackson III
- MC Hammer
, not Stanley Burrell
- Lady Gaga
, not Stefani Germanotta
- Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
, not Kiriko Takemura
- The Undertaker
, not Mark William Calaway
For guidance on the use of
cognomens
or other titles for monarchs and nobles, see the
royalty 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
, not
William "Bill" Clinton
. For pseudonyms containing quotation marks or other special characters, see
WP:Article titles §?Special characters
,
WP:Manual of Style/Biography §?Pseudonyms
, and
WP: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
, but
P!NK
→
Pink (singer)
. The page name uses preferably the most commonly used version of the name of that person; other variants should be
redirects
, and can also be mentioned in the article, as needed.
Titles and styles
[
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]
Styles, such as "His Grace" or "
HRH
", are
not
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 in
Mahatma Gandhi
,
Mother Teresa
or
Father Damien
).
Where such qualifiers
are
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 to
John Forest
, and
Dr Livingstone
redirects to
David Livingstone
.
For guidance on the use of the title "Saint", and for clerical titles such as "Pope", see the
clergy naming guideline
.
For the use of titles in the names of articles on monarchs and other nobility, see the
royalty and nobility guideline
.
Descriptive titles
[
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]
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:
Do
not
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 further
disambiguation
. 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 the
primary topic
for that title.
When there is a
usual
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 containing
hyphens, 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, so
Engelbert Humperdinck (composer)
and
Engelbert 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)
and
Roger 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
, born
YYYY
)]]
with a comma and
born
unabbreviated (not
b.
). For example, with two actors named Charles Hawtrey:
Charles Hawtrey (actor, born 1858)
and
Charles 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. Example:
George Heriot
and
George Heriot (died 1610)
.
When the subject of a biographical article
self-publishes
a new name, both the
article titling
and
biographies of living persons
policies apply. Particularly relevant:
The determination of
how much
extra weight should be given to more recent sources is guided by the likelihood the new name is going to stick ? while
Wikipedia is not a crystal ball
, it needs to be unavoidable that the new name will soon be the most common name. Examples:
- Although several decades have passed by since his adoption and consistent use of a new name,
Cat Stevens
has not been moved to
Yusuf Islam
, as it seems impossible to predict whether his new name will ever become as popular as his former stage name.
- Minutes after the announcement of his new name, the biography of
Jorge Bergoglio
was renamed to
Pope Francis
, as it seemed unavoidable that the former cardinal would immediately become primarily known by his papal name.
When the subject of a biographical article wants to return to an
earlier
name (e.g. removing honorifics no longer identified with, abandoning a pen name, etc.), also
older
sources may carry additional weight when the proposal is to go back to the name given at birth.
- Example:
Melvin Upton Jr.
→
B. J. Upton
after the baseball player returned to using his nickname (B. J.) in place of his given name (Melvin Jr.)
For
minor 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:
- Peruzzi
, a family as an entity of interest in its own right (the family name is used as the article title, though "
Surname
family" is a more common pattern, e.g.
Kennedy family
)
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
, a musical group named after its members (and consistently spelled with
&
and no
serial comma
on album covers and the majority of reliable sources)
- Artist duos such as
Christo and Jeanne-Claude
,
Pierre et Gilles
,
Gilbert & George
,
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
- Other duos such as
Sacco and Vanzetti
,
Theodora and Didymus
,
Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi
,
Godley & Creme
,
Brangelina
- Author duos writing under a single name, such as
Nicci French
,
Ellery Queen
- Wright brothers
,
De Vriendt brothers
,
NatWest Three
,
Guildford Four and Maguire Seven
(without "the", per
Wikipedia:Naming conventions (definite and indefinite articles at beginning of name)
; an exception is
The Wachowskis
, almost universally given a leading
the
in reliable sources)
- In the case of bands, particularly for band members who do not have separate articles, biographical notes are often included in the article on the band.
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)
and
John
?in this case
John (disambiguation)
redirects to the latter of these pages.
Jean
only has a disambiguation page, but the introduction of this page links to
John (name)
for the etymology.
If several people share the same name, a
disambiguation
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. (See
Category:Groups of people
and
Template:R to joint biography
.)
This is quite often done for ancient Roman names such as
Julia (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 sections
summarizing
stand-alone articles, while others have none to cross-reference) can be found at
Lucius Julius Caesar
. (Such pages are placed in
Category:Groups of ancient Romans
.)
The essentials of a person's life and significance can generally be summarized in
30?50?KB or less
. If additional encyclopedic content seems justified, the
Isaac Newton
article structure can be followed: arrange the article on the person into sections, each giving a
summary 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.