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
Be precise when possible
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 (example: Jabba Desilijic Tiure instead of Jabba the Hutt and Mitth'raw'nuruodo instead of Thrawn).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Article naming conventions
- 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 (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 (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).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Article Names: Real vs. Adopted
- If no canonical name exists, use the in-universe nickname or call sign (such as Shadow Seven), but put {{Nickname}} on top of the article.
- Whenever the 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).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Naming conventions: Stage names?
- 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" (example: Unidentified Sullustan Jedi instead of Unknown Sullustan Jedi or Unnamed Sullustan Jedi).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Unnamed, unknown, nameless
Lowercase second and subsequent words
Do not capitalize second and subsequent words unless the title is a proper noun (such as a name) or is otherwise always capitalized (example: Han Solo, but Video 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 (example: t'landa Til). The first letter of an internal wikilink need not be capitalized and will direct the reader to the same page (example: Lightsaber or lightsaber can be used interchangeably as needed). Also, the magic word [[Category:Articles using DISPLAYTITLE]]
{{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 nouns
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 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 name
Except in titles of works (The Approaching Storm, The Truce at Bakura) 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 definite article should be used when it's needed to distinguish a specific instance from the general term: Galaxy describes what a galaxy is, whereas the galaxy describes the particular galaxy in which Star Wars takes place.
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Naming policy: minor change to definite/indefinite article usage
Prefer spelled-out phrases to abbreviations
Use the full name of the subject instead of its abbreviation (example: Commission for the Preservation of the New Order instead of COMPNOR).
Redirect adjectives to nouns
Adjectives (such as Imperial) should redirect to nouns (in this case, Galactic Empire).
Use English words
Name articles in English and place the native in-universe transliteration at the beginning of the article unless the native form is more commonly used in English than the English form (for example: Resol'nare instead of Six Actions).
Be careful with special characters
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 rules
Animals and other organisms
Refer to all creatures of Star Wars as creatures and not animals (for example: Bear (creature) instead of Bear (animal)).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Creatures vs. animals?
Canon and Legends
In the instance a canon article requires the use of an article title currently occupied by a redirect to a Legends article or a Legends disambiguation page, the canon article should be created at that title, overwriting the redirect or disambiguation page. The canon article and the Legends version of that article should then use the "legends" and "canon" parameters in the {{Eras}} template to correctly link the two article tabs. For example, Ackbar should not redirect to Gial Ackbar but should instead be the article title for the canon version of Ackbar.
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Naming policy and titles
Clone troopers
When provided in canon, use clone troopers' numbers instead of their nicknames in article titles (for example: CC-5052 instead of Bly).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Clone trooper names vs. numbers
Comics and magazines
Do not include the number sign (#) in article titles, in-line text, the Appearances/Sources lists, or any other instance when referring to comic book or magazine issues, including comic trade paperbacks and collections. Although some comic book and magazine issues may use the number sign in their published titles, such use of the number sign creates technical and applicable issues for Wookieepedia in certain instances.
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Number sign in comic issue titles
Languages
Always use "X language" instead of "X (language)" in article titles (for example: Bith language instead of Bith (language)).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/"X (language)" or "X language"?
Lists
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 the Wookieepedia community.
Literary works
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.
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)).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/How to name publication edition, redux
Novels and books
Do not include "Star Wars" in the article title of novels, junior novels, novellas, eBooks, young reader stories, storybooks, roleplaying adventure books, or any other print or digital book that would normally be considered an in-universe "Appearance." The following exceptions apply: film novels and film junior novelizations (examples: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (novel), Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (junior novelization), Star Wars: The Clone Wars (novel)), and subjects with "Star Wars"–specific titles (examples: Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine, Star Wars Missions 1: Assault on Yavin Four, Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice, Star Wars Adventures: Boba Fett and the Ship of Fear, LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles (book)).
Applicable books from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Old Republic series will be shortened to "The Clone Wars" and "The Old Republic," respectively (examples: The Clone Wars: Wild Space instead of Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Wild Space, The Old Republic: Revan instead of Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan). Applicable books from Star Wars Rebels will not include the series title.
If the book is part of a series, include the series name as part of the title (examples: Galaxy of Fear: Eaten Alive, Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice, Fate of the Jedi: Outcast). Do not include the series name as part of the title if the series is not typically included in the book's title (examples: Heir to the Empire instead of The Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Ambush at Corellia instead of The Corellian Trilogy: Ambush at Corellia).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Naming policy: Novels
Real-world people
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 (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.
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Author's real names
Starships
To disambiguate individual starships, add the ship class in parentheses to the vessel's name (example: Resolute. When using a conjectural name or when the class is unknown, use starship instead of simply ship (example: Jabitha (starship) instead of Jabitha (ship)).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/How to name conjectural ship articles
Titles
Titles are generally not considered to be part of a character's name (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 (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'leks
For Twi'leks, use Galactic Basic Standard names instead of Twi'leki names (example: Aayla Secura instead of Aaylas'ecura).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Twi'lek names
Video games
To disambiguate video games, use "(video game)" instead of simply "(game)" (example: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (video game) instead of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (game)).
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Video games
Years and plain numbers
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).
For in-universe year articles, omit the comma for years 1000-9999 BBY/ABY (example: 5000 BBY, not 5,000 BBY). Do include the comma for all years 10,000+ BBY/ABY.
- → See Forum:CT Archive/Commas in year articles
See also
- Forum:CT Archive/Naming policy