FamilySearch Wiki:Naming a Page or Article

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 its title.


 * Examples
 * Finland Genealogy
 * Holwell, Bedfordshire Genealogy

No Abbreviations
Do not use abbreviations in naming a place.


 * Correct
 * Montgomery County, Maryland Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Montgomery Co., MD Genealogy

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


 * Correct
 * Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Maryland, Montgomery County, Rockville Genealogy


 * Exceptions
 * Articles about FamilySearch Historical Record Collections

Diacritics
Diacritics should not be used in the title of a locality article unless there is no English version of the country or locality. For example, use Mexico, not México. The version of the country name in its native tongue using diacritics when applicable should be included at the top of the article page to allow the Wiki search engine to retrieve the correct page for the user.


 * Correct
 * Mexico Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * México Genealogy


 * Exceptions
 * When English version of the locality is not known, use the spelling and diacritics found in the native tongue of the country.

Proper use of the diacritics can be found in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog.

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 diacritics. The version of the country name in it's native tongue using diacritics when applicable should be included at the top of the article page to allow the Wiki search engine to retrieve the correct page for the user. Redirects can also be made for incorrectly titled locality articles already found in the Wiki.


 * Correct
 * Bavaria, Germany Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Bayern, Germany Genealogy

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.

Country Name vs. Nationality
Any locality Wiki pages and locality topic pages should only include the country name and not the nationality in the title. For example, it is Mexico Probate Records not Mexican Probate Records. Nationality can be used in other situations such as articles about immigration. For example, Chinese in America.

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.

Administrative sub-divisions
Names of classes of places should follow English grammar rules. 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 we use "Chinese and Roman provinces," not "Chinese sheng" or Roman provinciae."

United States

 * For county and state pages, list two jurisdictions.


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


 * For towns/cities pages, include the county and the state.


 * Correct
 * Chicago, Cook County, Illinois Genealogy
 * Portland, Cumberland County, Maine Genealogy


 * 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" in the title of town or county wiki articles.


 * Correct
 * Charleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Genealogy
 * Lincoln County, Montana Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Charleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, United States Genealogy
 * Lincoln County, Montana, 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 and do not include, England.


 * 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


 * For county pages, list three jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Essex County, Ontario, Canada Genealogy

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.

Germany

 * For Kreis/Landkreis, list three jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Genealogy


 * For parish/city pages, list four jurisdictions including the Kreis/Landkreis


 * Correct
 * Sandebeck, Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Genealogy


 * For more information, please contact wikisupport@familysearch.org

Ireland

 * For county pages, list two jurisdictions.


 * Correct
 * County Kerry, Ireland Genealogy


 * For parish/city pages, list three jurisdictions including the type of parish.


 * 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

 * Include the country in all locality article titles


 * Correct
 * Alagoas, Brazil Genealogy
 * Penang, Malaysia Genealogy
 * Chaco, Argentina Genealogy
 * Bukovina, Austria Genealogy


 * Incorrect
 * Alagoas Genealogy
 * Bukovina Genealogy


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


 * Correct
 * Baja California, Mexico Genealogy
 * Ain, France Genealogy


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