User:Batsondl/Sandbox 27

= FamilySearch Wiki:Naming Wiki Pages =

This page offers policies and best practices in naming wiki articles.

Naming an article
Use the following to help you name a general wiki page correctly. Instructions on how to name geographical or place wiki articles are below.

Be clear and concise
Make sure that the article name clearly and concisely communicates what a user may find in the article. Remove any unnecessary words or punctuation.

Capitalization

 * Capitalize each word in the title of the article except for:
 * Articles: a, an, the
 * Coordinating Conjunctions: and, but, or, for, nor, etc.
 * Prepositions (fewer than five letters): on, at, to, from, by, etc.
 * Do not use all uppercase letters - use initial caps on each word in a title except when this conflicts with place naming standards or grammar rules.


 * Correct
 * Census Records of the United States


 * Incorrect
 * CENSUS RECORDS OF THE UNITED STATES

Things to Avoid

 * Avoid the use of pronouns and descriptive adjectives
 * Do not start article names with "A," "The," or "An" if possible
 * Avoid characters such as / + { } [ ]
 * Avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and postal codes
 * Replace "&amp;" with "and" unless it is part of a formal name

Gender Neutral
Article names should be gender neutral.

Ambiguous titles
FamilySearch Wiki is international, so any article with a general title such as "Census" should really cover the entire globe. On occasion, the preferred name for an article, while correct, may be ambiguous. In these cases the practice is to either extend the article title with more specific information or add a term in parenthesis after the article title, so that the article name is unambiguous. If you are writing an article which applies to one locality only, then this should be made clear in the name of the article, such as Censuses in England or Scottish Census.

Omit name of the article author
Because this is a wiki, content becomes stronger and more accurate as the community adds to it. If an author's name is in the title it gives credit to the original author when changes are made by other users. It also gives the illusion that the author owns the wiki article.

Using key words
When giving a name to a page or a new article think about how native language speakers would search for that article. Use the same key words you would use in searching for the article in the title you give it, including variations of the locality name. Avoid ambiguous words or phrases.

Adding "Genealogy" to title
To improve the rankings of wiki articles in Google and other search engines, the word, "Genealogy" is added to the end of all geographical wiki article titles. A geographical topic page, such as Alabama Probate Records, should not have the word, genealogy added to it's title.


 * Examples
 * Finland Genealogy
 * Ulnes, Oppland, Norway Genealogy

No Abbreviations
Do not use abbreviations in naming a place.


 * Correct
 * Montgomery County, Maryland


 * Incorrect
 * Montgomery Co., MD

Ascending order of jurisdictions
When adding place names to article titles, add jurisdictions in ascending order (smallest to largest).


 * Correct
 * Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland


 * Incorrect
 * Maryland, Montgomery County, Rockville


 * Exceptions
 * Articles about FamilySearch Historical Record Collections

Country names in English
Use the form of a current country's name as it appears in the CIA World Factbook.

Locality articles should only contain the English form of the country in the title and should not include diacretics. The version of the country name in it's native tongue should be included at the top of the article page to allow the Wiki search engine to bring up the correct page for the user. Redirects can also be made for incorrectly titled locality articles already found in the Wiki.

When a widely accepted English name, exists for a former country or empire, we should use it. For example, New Spain rather than Virreinato de Nueva España, Ottoman Empire rather than دولتْ علیّه عثمانیّه or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu.

Disambiguation
It is often the case that the same geographic place-name will apply to more than one place, or to a place and to other things of interest to genealogists such as a tribe or language; in either case a disambiguation page will be necessary and the articles about locations need to be more specific by adding all jurisdictions to the title. See FamilySearch Wiki:Disambiguation.

United States

 * For county and state pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Alabama, United States Genealogy
 * Warren County, Ohio Genealogy


 * For towns/cities pages, list only the state they are in and do not include the county.


 * Correct
 * Chicago, Illinois Genealogy
 * Portland, Maine Genealogy


 * Exceptions
 * If there is a two towns with the same name in a state, create a disambiguation page and name the pages with the county in the title to clarify.


 * Always use “County” when describing a United States county in an article name.


 * Exceptions
 * Louisiana uses "Parishes" instead of counties and Alaska uses "Boroughs."


 * Do not use "United States" when listing a town or county.


 * Correct
 * Chenango County, New York Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Chenango County, New York, United States Genealogy

England, Scotland, Wales

 * For county pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Bedfordshire, England Genealogy
 * Dunbartonshire, Scotland Genealogy


 * For parishes/cities pages, list only the county.


 * Correct
 * London, England Genealogy
 * Englefield, Berkshire Genealogy


 * Do not use the word, County in naming the article


 * Exceptions
 * County Durham

Canada

 * For province pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Alberta, Canada Genealogy
 * Portland, Maine Genealogy


 * For county pages, list three jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Essex County, Ontario, Canada

Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland

 * For county pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Jämtland County, Sweden Genealogy
 * Maribo County, Denmark Genealogy


 * For parish/city pages, list three jurisdictions


 * Correct
 * Hallen, Jämtland County, Sweden Genealogy
 * Holeby, Maribo County, Denmark Genealogy

Switzerland

 * For canton pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Genève Canton, Switzerland Genealogy


 * For parish/city pages, list three jurisdictions


 * Correct
 * Bergdietikon, Aargau Canton, Switzerland Genealogy


 * Always use “Canton” when describing an Switzerland Canton.

Ireland

 * For county pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * County Kerry, Ireland Genealogy


 * For parish/city pages, list three jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Aghadoe Civil Parish, County Kerry, Ireland Genealogy


 * Always use “County” before the county name when describing an Irish county.


 * Exceptions
 * King's County and Queen's County

Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Austria, France and other countries in the wiki

 * Do not list the type of jurisdiction in the name of the article.


 * Correct
 * Mexico Genealogy
 * Baja California, Mexico Genealogy
 * Argentina Genealogy
 * Brazil Genealogy
 * Alagoas, Brazil Genealogy
 * Malaysia Genealogy
 * Penang, Malaysia Genealogy
 * Chaco, Argentina Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Baja California State, Mexico Genealogy
 * Ain Department, France Genealogy
 * Mexico Country Genealogy

Is this necessary???
Use diacritics as they would appear in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog, for example, Höfgen (AH. Meißen), Sachsen, Germany.

Administrative sub-divisions
Names of classes of places do what English does. In particular, when dealing with administrative subdivisions, we write of United States counties and Cook County, Illinois, or of Russian oblasts and the Moscow Oblast, but of Chinese and Roman provinces, not sheng or provinciae.

Also, use Jackson Township, Hamilton, Indiana, but use Cicero, Hamilton, Indiana for an incorporated municipality.