Wookieepedia:Naming policy
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This is a list of rules on how to appropriately create and name articles. Generally, article naming should be derived from a canonical source and be easily recognizable for the majority of English speakers, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity.
General rules
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Be precise when possibleEdit
When naming an article, please abide the following procedure:
- Use a canonical name whenever possible.
- If more than one canonical name of the subject is known, use the most full and accurate version of the name provided in canon (for example: Jabba Desilijic Tiure instead of Jabba the Hutt and Mitth'raw'nuruodo instead of Thrawn).
- Whenever alternate names are used in canon, use the name under which the subject was known during the later time period, or, for characters, at the moment of the character's death (for example: Grievous instead of Qymaen jai Sheelal).
- Whenever two or more names were used by the character simultaneously (adopted names included), use the most commonly known of those names (for example: both Palpatine and Dooku were commonly known under their official names, which they continued to use alongside their Sith titles, so those names are preferred for the respective articles).
- If no canonical name exists, use the in-universe nickname or callsign (such as Shadow 7), but put the {{Nickname}} on top of the article.
- Whenever official name of the character is known, do not add the nickname to the article's name (example: Obi-Wan Kenobi instead of Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi).
- If no in-universe designation exists, use a conjectural name with {{Conjecture}} on top of the article.
- When using a conjectural name use "Unidentified" instead of "Unknown" or "Unnamed" (for example: Unidentified Sullustan Jedi instead of Unknown Sullustan Jedi or Unnamed Sullustan Jedi).
Lowercase second and subsequent wordsEdit
Do not capitalize second and subsequent words unless the title is a proper noun (such as a name) or is otherwise always capitalized (for example: Han Solo, but Computer game).
Due to the technical limitations inherent to the MediaWiki software, the first letter in an article title always needs to be a capital letter. Ordinarily this isn't a problem, but it poses an issue when a proper noun's first letter is lowercase (for example, t'landa Til). The first letter of an internal wikilink need not be capitalized and will direct the reader to the same page (for example, Lightsaber or lightsaber can be used interchangeably as needed). Also, the magic word {{DISPLAYTITLE:name}} can be used to display the article's name with the first letter in lowercase. (DISPLAYTITLE has advantages over {{Title}} in that the former is a native MediaWiki function as opposed to a JavaScript hack, takes effect as soon as the page comes up instead of after it finishes loading, and also works in your browser's title bar and history.)
Prefer singular nounsEdit
In general, only create page titles that are in the singular, unless that noun is always in a plural form in English (such as electrobinoculars or magnacuffs). Note that the category names follow different pluralization conventions, and the proper category name would look like Category: Black Sun members.
Avoid the definite and the indefinite article at the start of the page nameEdit
Except in titles of works (The Approaching Storm, The Bacta War) or in official names (The Force, The Maw), avoid the definite ("the") and indefinite ("a"/"an") articles at the beginning of a page name. This applies even if the subject of the page is usually preceded by the definite article "the" in speech or writing: Thus, for example, Death Star is preferred over the Death Star, however the galaxy is preferred over galaxy.
Prefer spelled-out phrases to abbreviationsEdit
Use the full name of the subject instead of its abbreviation (for example: Commission for the Preservation of the New Order instead of COMPNOR).
Redirect adjectives to nounsEdit
Adjectives (such as Imperial) should redirect to nouns (in this case, Galactic Empire).
Use English wordsEdit
Name the articles in English and place the native transliteration at the beginning of the article unless the native form is more commonly used in English than the English form (for example: Six Actions instead of Resol'nare).
Be careful with special charactersEdit
Some special characters either cannot be used or can but cause problems. For example you should not use a piping character (|), an asterisk (*), an ampersand (&), a plus sign (+), a number sign (#), curly braces ({}), or square braces ([]) in a name.
Specific rulesEdit
Animals and other organismsEdit
Refer to all creatures of Star Wars as creatures and not animals (for example: Pulsar skate (creature) instead of Pulsar skate (animal)).
Clone troopersEdit
When provided in canon, use clone troopers' numbers instead of their nicknames in article titles (for example: CC-5052 instead of Bly).
LanguagesEdit
Always use "X language" instead of "X (language)" in article titles (for example: Bith language instead of Bith (language)).
ListsEdit
The list of Xs should be titled as list of Xs, rather than Xs, famous Xs, listing of important Xs, list of noted Xs, list of all Xs, etc. Before ever creating a list, consider making a category instead: categories are easier to maintain and lists are generally discouraged by Wookieepedia community.
Literary worksEdit
Use the title of the work as the article's title, following all applicable general conventions. To disambiguate, add the type of literary work in parentheses, such as "(novel)", "(short story)", etc. You may use "(book)" to disambiguate a non-fiction book. If the book is the part of the series, use only the novel's actual title, without the title of the series (for example: Path of Destruction, No Prisoners, Star by Star, Fury).
Whenever the book has several different editions, list them after comma when the edition is a part of the formal title, and in parenthesis if it is not literally a part of the book's title. (For example: Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition, but Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope (First Edition)).
Real-world peopleEdit
Always list main author articles under the chosen, publishing name of the author, be it their real name or a pseudonym. The same rule applies for all real-world actors, artists, crew members, and other people credited for their Star Wars work (for example: Billy Dee Williams instead of William December Williams).
Initials in people's names should be written with full stops (periods) after them, with a space between the initials and the name, and between initials (for example: R. A. Salvatore, A. L. Singer). Whenever possible, use people's credited names instead of initials.
StarshipsEdit
To disambiguate between the different starships, add the class in parentheses to the vessel's name (for example: Resolute (Venator-class). When using conjectural name, or when the class is unknown, use starship instead of simply ship (for example: Jabitha (starship) instead of Jabitha (ship)).
TitlesEdit
Titles are generally not considered to be the part of the character's name (for example: Dooku instead of Count Dooku). The notable exception is the Sith title "Darth", which is considered to be part of the Sith Lord's name (for example: Darth Talon instead of Talon).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Naming Conventions for Nobility and Royalty
- → See Forum:CT Archive/About those naming conventions...
Twi'leksEdit
For Twi'leks, use Basic names instead of Twi'leki names (for example, Aayla Secura instead of Aaylas'ecura).
Video gamesEdit
To disambiguate video games, use (video game) instead of simply (game) (for example, Shadows of the Empire (video game) instead of Shadows of the Empire (game)).
Years and plain numbersEdit
Plain numbers (like 1138) can be used for any purpose, with a small exception of numbers between 1970 and 2020, which are reserved for the real-world year articles (when new articles outside this range are created, the range may be extended in five-year increments as needed without need for full CT discussion).
