Wikipedia:Article titles: Difference between revisions
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<noinclude>{{Short description|Wikipedia policy}}{{pp-semi-indef}}{{pp-move}}</noinclude>
{{Redirect|WP:TITLE|other uses|Wikipedia:Titles (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|WP:NAME|
{{Redirect-distinguish|WP:NC
{{Redirect-distinguish|WP:AT|
{{This|the policy governing how to select an article title|technical information about the titles of pages|Wikipedia:Page name}}
{{Policy|WP:NC|WP:AT|WP:TITLE}}
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* {{anchor|NATURAL|Naturalness|natural}}'''Naturalness''' – The title is one that readers are likely to look or search for and that editors would naturally use to link to the article from other articles. Such a title usually conveys what the subject is actually called in English.
* {{anchor|PRECISE|precise}}'''Precision''' – The title unambiguously identifies the article's subject and distinguishes it from other subjects. {{xref|(See {{section link||Precision and disambiguation}}, below.)}}
* {{anchor|CONCISE|concise}}'''Concision''' – The title is
* {{anchor|CONSISTENT
<section end="naming criteria" />
These should be seen as goals, not as rules. For most topics, there is a simple and obvious title that meets these goals satisfactorily. If so, use it as a straightforward choice. However, in some cases the choice is not so obvious. It may be necessary to favor one or more of these goals over the others. This is done by consensus. For instance, the recognizable, natural, and concise title [[United Kingdom]] is preferred over the more precise title [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]]. {{xref|(For more details, see {{section link||Use commonly recognizable names}}, below.)}}
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'''Product names and fictional characters'''
* [[Windows XP]] (not: Windows NT 5.1)
* [[Sailor Moon (character)]] (not: Usagi Tsukino)
* [[Darth Vader]] (not: Anakin Skywalker)
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Wikipedia has many ''naming conventions'' relating to specific subject domains (as listed in the box at the top of this page). In rare cases, these recommend the use of titles that are not strictly the common name (as in the case of the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (medicine-related articles)|conventions for medicine]]). This practice of using specialized names is often controversial, and should not be adopted unless it produces clear benefits outweighing the use of common names. When it is, the article titles adopted should follow a neutral and common convention specific to that subject domain, and otherwise adhere to the general principles for titling articles on Wikipedia.
==Precision
{{Anchor|Precision and disambiguation}}<!--Required to avoid breaking links on this page and others, including redirects-->
{{Shortcut|WP:PRECISION|WP:PRECISE|WP:OVERPRECISION}}
{{Redirect|MOS:PRECISION|the precision of numbers|MOS:UNCERTAINTY|the precision of geographical coordinates|WP:OPCOORD|the precision of statements about dates|WP:PRECISELANG}}
Usually, titles should unambiguously define the topical scope of the article, but should be no more precise than that. For instance, [[Saint Teresa of Calcutta]] is too precise, as [[Mother Teresa]] is precise enough to indicate exactly the same topic. On the other hand, [[Columbia]] would not be precise enough to unambiguously identify the [[Columbia River]].
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{{Anchor|DAB}}{{Shortcut|WP:QUALIFIER|WP:TITLEDAB}}
{{Hatnote|This policy section should be read in conjunction with the [[Wikipedia:Disambiguation#Naming the specific topic articles|disambiguation guideline]].}}
It is not always possible to use the exact title that may be desired for an article, as that title may have other meanings, and therefore may have been already used for other articles. According to the
As a general rule, when a topic's preferred title can also refer to other topics covered in Wikipedia:
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===<span id="Using minor details to naturally disambiguate articles"></span>When a spelling variant indicates a distinct topic ===
{{Shortcut|WP:SMALLDETAILS|WP:DIFFCAPS|WP:DIFFPUNCT}}
Ambiguity may arise when typographically near-identical expressions have distinct meanings, e.g. [[iron maiden]] vs. [[Iron Maiden]], or [[friendly fire]] vs. the other meanings listed at [[Friendly Fire (disambiguation)|Friendly Fire]]. The general approach is that whatever readers might type in the search box, they are guided as swiftly as possible to the topic they might reasonably be expected to be looking for, by such disambiguation techniques as [[WP:HATNOTE|hatnotes]]
However, when renaming to a less ambiguous page name can be done without wandering from [[WP:CRITERIA]], such renaming should be considered:
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In certain instances, plural forms may also be used to naturally distinguish articles; see {{section link|Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plurals)|Primary topic}} for details.
{{Shortcut|WP:CONCISE}}
{{Redirect|WP:CONCISE|the essay advising a concise writing style|WP:TLDR}}
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Exceptions exist for biographical articles. For example, given names and family names are usually not omitted or abbreviated for the purposes of concision. Thus [[Oprah Winfrey]] (not [[Oprah]]) and [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] (not [[J. P. Sartre]]). See [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)]].
==Consistency==
{{Shortcut|WP:CONSISTENT}}
{{for|examples of Wikipedia practices regarding consistency in article titles|WP:TITLECON}}
To the extent that it is practical, titles should be consistent among articles covering similar topics. However, there has been a history of consensus among editors regarding several areas where consistency does <em>not</em> control titling:
* Disambiguation
*
* It is not considered important for article titles on the English Wikipedia to be consistent with titles used by the corresponding articles on other language versions of Wikipedia.
▲* Disambiguation. For instance, just because [[Georgia (country)]] exists, there is no reason to have articles titled, for instance, [[Azerbaijan (country)]], [[Armenia (country)]], etc. This applies to natural disambiguation, as well; the existence of [[Querétaro City]] and [[Chihuahua City]] does not mean we have to retitle [[Guadalajara]] to [[Guadalajara City]].
▲* Spelling that differs between different varieties of English. [[Orange (colour)]] and [[Lime (color)]] peaceably coexist, as do [[motorcycle tyre]] and [[snow tire]].
==English-language titles==
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Wikipedia generally uses the character ''[[æ]]'' to represent the Anglo-Saxon ligature ''æsc''. For Latin- or Greek-derived words (e.g. [[Paean]], [[Amoeba]], [[Estrogen]]), use ''e'', ''ae'', or ''oe'', depending on modern usage and the [[WP:ENGVAR|national variety of English]] used in the article.
In deciding whether and how to
===National varieties of English===
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