Pensapedia:Naming conventions

When naming articles, certain conventions should be taken into consideration, for purposes of standardization and usability.

Persons

When naming articles about persons, the most generally accepted convention is to use the person's full name as the article title, e.g. Francis Celestino Brent. If the full name is not known, as much as possible should be supplied, e.g. Alexander V. Clubbs or C. C. Goodman. However, a number of exceptions do apply, and are detailed below.

After naming a given article, you want to be sure to create redirects to the article using alternate forms of the name, especially in the case of historical figures, who were and are commonly referred to by initialisms. For example, after creating Francis Celestino Brent, one would want to create redirects to the articles at F. C. Brent and Francis C. Brent.

Living/recent persons

For those persons who are still living or have only recently deceased, articles are more commonly named with what that person would most commonly go by on a day-to-day basis, i.e. Hugh King. Middle names, initialisms, and suffixes are less common among these persons' article titles.

Much more common usage

Furthermore, exceptions are made if the article's namesake is much more commonly referred to by another name, usually one with initials or diminutive names, e.g. T. T. Wentworth or Buzz Ritchie. In the first example, T. T. Wentworth is almost universally referred to by those initials, rather than his given name. The museum named in his honour uses the initials form. In the second example, Buzz Ritchie is almost universally referred to by the diminutive/nickname "Buzz" rather than his full name.

Avoiding very long article names

Sometimes, in order to avoid very long article names, it is best to omit a middle name in favour of an initial, e.g. Willoughby A. D'Alemberte, instead of Willoughby Augustus D'Alemberte. These cases are judgement calls and can be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

Specific events

When naming specific events, the most generally accepted convention is to use the name or description of the event, followed by a comma, and the year in which the event took place, e.g. Municipal elections, 1908 or Streetcar operators' strike, 1908. If the event is so well-known or unique that it would not be confused with any other event, it may be acceptable to omit the year, e.g. Halloween Night Fire.