Talk:Cross-wall

Conwy or Conway

• According to the Welsh Government, the town's own website (and this link too it would seem), and the UNESCO websites, Conwy is the correct form. Now, I am aware that per WP:OFFICIAL, that does not override WP:COMMON.
• A google search for "Conwy Castle" yields in 355,000 results. A search for "Conway Castle" presents "Showing results for "conwy castle" Search instead for "conway castle"". Clicking the later link provides only 90,800 results: Most of the first page including sites were the name is spelt as "Conwy", with some linking to a similar named castle in Ireland.
• Google Books search for "Conwy Castle" gives 1,140 results, whereas the same search for "Conway Castle" provides 1,170 results.
• Google Scholar: 190 results for "Conwy Castle" compared to 602 results for "Conway Castle". The later includes a "Did you mean: "Conwy Castle"", with the first page containing articles that uses both spelling, and it would seem some talking about the Irish castle.
• JSTOR: 27 results for "Conwy Castle", and 143 results for "Conway Castle".
• Worldcat has 50 results for "Conwy Castle" compared to 165 results for "Conway Castle". Likewise, some of these results are talking about the Irish castle.

Anecdotal evidence wise, to me it seems that the ones favoring "Conway" appear to be older sources, with the trend in the more recent ones to favor "Conwy". But this point is neither here nor there.

I would argue that margins are pretty slim in regards to books, and common usage favors the official name.EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 16:16, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for that research. My initial thoughts are that a) of course the Welsh Assembly would favour a Welsh spelling, b) there has been a conscious campaign in recent years to promote the Welsh language - hence all road signs are in dual language now - and so we would expect an increase in the Welsh spelling over time. But c) "Conwy" is actually Welsh and "Conway" is English. This is English (not Welsh) Wikipedia and so we should prefer the English spelling which is clearly widespread and more common in authoritative sources (books) which we are to give precedence. At this stage in time (and things may change) it seems to be pandering to political correctness and going against Wikipedia's guidelines to prefer a Welsh spelling (and I have nothing against the Welsh or our language, being partly of Welsh descent myself). --Bermicourt (talk) 18:44, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

The margin of difference in books is not so great, and the common name - as seen via Google - is clearly in favor of the Welsh variation. The argument that "This is English (not Welsh) Wikipedia" falls a little flat considering the articles Conwy. Conwy Castle, and Conwy County Borough. Considering the fact that the articles on these locations use the Welsh spelling - when they do not have to per WP:Common - then surely there should be some consistency?EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 21:33, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't base WP:COMMONNAME on Google searches which can be notoriously inaccurate. One problem is that whatever Wikipedia uses is copied dozens of times on mirror sites thus automatically favouring the status quo. I've already commented on the Conwy article as has someone else who maintains that the local population mostly call it Conway and that's generated a rude, but rather one-sided defence. Also looking at other Welsh places, English Wikipedia uses Newport not Casnewydd, Swansea not Abertawe and Cardiff not Caerdydd. So "Conwy" is very much looking the odd man out. Even on the basis that both Conway and Conwy are common in English, we should not therefore be favouring one over the other, just as we don't automatically prefer one version of English over all the others. Bermicourt (talk) 13:38, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

I disagree, although together we are at an impasse. A third opinion may be required on both pages.EnigmaMcmxc (talk) 17:25, 16 July 2015 (UTC)