Wikipedia:Category names

This page contains a list of guidelines concerning naming conventions for categories. If you wish to propose a new naming convention for categories or modify an existing convention, please do so on the talk page.

Naming conventions

When naming a category, one should be particularly careful and choose its name accurately. Moving non-conventionally categorized pages to another category name (see {{Category redirect}}) imposes an additional overhead – an edit for each article and subcategory. Also, try to avoid names that are too long or too short. Short, straight-forward names, are preferred for categories, though it may be necessary at times to deviate from this principle for clarity or disambiguation.

General conventions

• Names of topic categories should be singular, normally corresponding to the name of a Wikipedia article. Examples: "Law", "France", "Hillary Clinton".
• Names of set categories should be plural. Examples: "Writers", "Villages in Poland".
• Note that in many instances a topic category and a set category have similar names, the topic category being singular and the set category plural. For example, Opera is a topic category (containing all articles relating to the topic), while Operas is a set category (containing articles about specific operas). Be careful to choose the right one when categorizing articles.
• Do not write the category structure in names. Example: "Monarchs", not "People – Monarchs". This includes creating categories that are subpages of other categories.
• Choose category names that can stand alone, independent of the way a category is connected to other categories. Example: "Geography terminology stubs", not "Terminology" (a subcategory of "Geography stubs").

Categories for articles

• Standard article naming conventions apply; in particular, use sentence case, do not use title case. Specifically, do not capitalize regular nouns except when they come at the beginning of the category name.
• When naming, use words and phrases which exist in verifiable reliable sources (particularly for technical subjects), so that those sources may be used to support inclusion of information.
• Avoid abbreviations. Example: "Category:Military equipment of World War II", not "Category:Military equipment of WW2". However, acronyms that have become the official, or generally used, name (such as NATO) should be used where there are no other conflicts. Exceptions to this should be explained in the category description.
• Avoid subjective adjectives such as famous, large, or beautiful in category titles.
• When a topic requires disambiguation, any category eponymously named for that topic should include the same form of disambiguation, even if no other articles are likely to have an eponymous category.
• If there are more than a few lists in a particular subject area, it may be appropriate to create a specific subcategory that only contains the list pages and no other types.
  • As an example Category:Countries contains the subcategory "Category:Lists of countries", which in turn contains the list pages "List of Soviet Republics", and "List of countries by population".
  • When placing list pages in such a category, use a sort key to adjust the page title to exclude the starting words "List of", or all lists would appear under "L". For example, when adding List of Soviet Republics to the category, using [[Category:Lists of countries|Soviet Republics]] and will make it be sorted in the S section. See also Category:Lists.
• Naming guidelines for sub-categories of Category:Stub categories are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Naming guidelines § Categories.

Project categories

• Categories used for Wikipedia administration, are disambiguated by prepending with the word "Wikipedia" (no colon) if this is needed to prevent confusion with content categories. For example, Category:Inactive project pages (where no confusion is likely), but Category:Wikipedia tools (as distinct from the content category Tools).
• All WikiProject categories should have "WikiProject" (or "WikiProjects") as part of the name. Note that this does not apply to the names of categories that projects might create for the use of assessments. In these cases, the advice given in Project Categories, which conforms to Category:Wikipedia 1.0 assessments is advised, though not mandatory.
• For geographical photo requests, the category name should be "Wikipedia requested photographs in xxx" as in [[Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in England]]; see Category:Wikipedia requested photographs by location.
• For categorization in userspace, see Wikipedia:Categorization § User namespace and Wikipedia:User categories § Naming conventions.

Categorization of people

Further information: Wikipedia:Categorization of people

• Avoid abbreviations. Exceptions should be rare, and explained in all member pages.
• Avoid names that are too long or too short. Short, simple names are preferred for categories. It is possible to deviate from this principle for clarity and neutrality, but don't exaggerate on length or complexity of category names.

Neutrality

• Use gender-neutral category names, unless there is a distinct reason and consensus to do otherwise. In that case, please specify the reason on the category page, and record the consensus on its associated discussion page.

  Example: instead of a category for "Kings" and a different category for "Queens", use Category:Monarchs.

• Always try to use the most generic neutral name. Some categories can be used in a stigmatizing way.

  Example: "Prostitutes" is a better name for a category than "whores". "Sex workers" might work even better for a category name, as more gender-neutral and better approaching Business Card style.

Occupation

• People are usually categorized by their nationality and occupation, such as Category:Ethiopian musicians.
  • The template {{Fooian fooers}} is used to provide navigation on each category page.
  • Please note that this template may need to be modified for some categories. To avoid ambiguity, some nationalities are listed as "People of Foo" instead of "Fooian"; for example, "Georgian people" could mean either Category:People from Georgia (country) or Category:People from Georgia (U.S. state). For those categories, use {{Fooers from Boo}}. For sub-categories of Category:People from Northern Ireland by occupation, use {{Fooers from Northern Ireland}}.
  • Similarly, some nationalities are listed as "Country people" instead of "Fooian people", such as Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina musicians and Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo musicians. In those cases the value used for "nationality" is the name of the country.
• Concurrent citizenship may be reflected by duplicating the occupation (for example, Category:Canadian actors and Category:American actors for a dual American–Canadian citizen). Generally, categories that combine two nationalities and an occupation are not created.
• Occupation categories should not be divided into "current" or "former" categories. For example, Category:Former child actors and Category:Current Minnesota Twins players should not exist.

Heritage

The standard form for categories by ancestry, culture, or ethnicity is "FOOian people of BARian descent", where "FOOian" is the person's nationality (country of citizenship) and "BARian" is the person's ethnic ancestry (such as Category:Irish people of Ghanaian descent and Category:American people of German descent).

Residence

For categorizing people by residence, the form is People from Foo (not "Natives of Foo"). Where the commonly used English name for residents of a place is well-known globally (usually the original place of that name), Fooite demonym categories should be {{category redirect}}ed to People from Foo, assisting in automated categorization (for example, Category:New Yorkers).

Place of burial

For categorizing people by place of burial, the category name is in the form Burials at Foo Cemetery.

Time periods

By convention, a category name designating a time period with a number (in Arabic numerals) represents a calendar year in the Common Era. For years BCE, the format is "<year number> BC", for example Category:220 BC deaths.

Categories for people by century should be named Category:xx-century foos or Category:xx-century BC foos.

Categories by country

All categories whose subcategories are categories by country (roughly all categories that are members of Category:Categories by country) shall have a per-category naming convention which will apply to all of their subcategories. These naming conventions, their guidelines and their exceptions are listed here. Non-conformance to these naming conventions shall be treated as a criterion for "speedy category renaming" as defined on WP:CFD.

Events

Categories regarding events in countries (along with years and time) are named "... in country." This guideline applies to:

Millennia - Centuries - Decades - Years - Establishments - Disestablishments

Manufactured objects

Categories of permanently located manufactured objects by country are named "... in country". This guideline applies to:

Airports - American football venues - Amusement parks - Archaeological sites - Art museums - Association football venues - Athletics (track and field) venues (mostly named "athletics" as per non-U.S. usage) - Baseball venues - Basketball venues - Bridges - Buildings and structures - Casinos - Castles - Cathedrals - Cemeteries - Churches - Cities - Cricket grounds - Forts - Gardens - Ghost towns - Golf clubs and courses - Horse racing venues - Hospitals - Hotels - Indoor arenas - Libraries - Monasteries - Motorsport venues - Mosques - Museums - Palaces - Parks - Prisons - Railway stations - Reservoirs - Roads - Rugby union stadiums - Schools - Shopping malls (or shopping centres, based on local usage) - Skyscrapers - Sports venues - Theatres - Towns - Universities and colleges ("Universities" categories are also legitimate in countries where universities and colleges are distinct, i.e. most countries, and are often a subcategory) - Villages - World Heritage Sites - Zoos

Landforms

Categories of landforms by country are named "... of country". This guideline applies to:

Landforms (top category) - Beaches - Hills - Islands - Lakes - Mountains - Mountain passes - Mountain ranges - Peninsulas - Rivers - Volcanoes

Companies

By-country subcategories of all <company type> by country categories are named ... of country. This guideline applies to:

Airlines - Banks - Book publishing companies - Companies - Defunct companies - Engineering companies - Financial services companies - Insurance companies - Manufacturing companies - Retail companies

State-based topics

Categories of topics usually in the domain of the state are named "... of country".

Administrative divisions - Foreign relations - Government - Military - Military equipment - Military units and formations - Municipalities * - National parks - Postal systems - Protected areas

• Administrative divisions take the "of" form and settlements take the "in" form. Municipalities are usually found in non-English speaking countries as third tier administrative divisions covering the whole country including rural areas. In most cases, there are separate designations for settlements such as cities and towns. However where the designation "municipality" is used solely for urban settlements (example, Romania) or where it is the only official designation for cities and towns (example, Spain), the category takes the "in" form.

Political office-holders

By country subcategories of <political office> by country categories are named:

• ... of country for those concerning holders of a specific office with jurisdiction over a country
• ... in country for those that group offices of a certain type, operating within a country

This guideline applies to:

Political office-holders - Heads of government - Heads of state - Legislators - Government ministers (or "cabinet secretaries" if that is local usage) - minister lists - Presidents - Prime ministers

• ... of places in ... for specific jurisdictions within a country, province, state, or equivalent
• ... of place for the specific jurisdiction

This guideline applies to:

Mayors

Sport

By-country subcategories of all <sport name> by country categories are named ... in country. This guideline applies to:

Athletics - Association football (Australia, Canada and USA: "soccer") - Baseball - Basketball - Cricket - Cycle racing - Golf - Horse racing - Ice hockey - Motorsport - Rugby league - Rugby union - Sport (or sports if that is local usage) - Teams - Tennis

Miscellaneous "of country"

Subcategories of these categories are named "... of country".

Cinema - Coins - Demographics - Economies - Environment - Fauna - Geography - History - Languages - Natural history - Politics - Ships - Trade unions - Weapons

Miscellaneous "in country"

Subcategories of these categories are named "... in country".

Aviation - Business - Capital punishment - Communications - Crime - Disasters - Education - Ethnic groups - Health - Human rights - Landmarks - Law enforcement - Mass media - Nature conservation - Political parties - Populated places - Public holidays - Rail transport - Religion - Science and technology - Television - Tourism - Transportation (or transport if that is local usage)

Miscellaneous "involving country"

Subcategories of these categories are named "... involving country".

Battles - Military operations - Naval battles - Sieges - Wars

Miscellaneous

Aircraft ("manufactured by Foo") - Charities ("based in Foo") - Environmental organizations ("based in Foo") - Newspapers ("published in Foo") - Organizations ("based in Foo")

Undecided by country

The convention for these categories is yet to be decided. See the talk page for details. These will be moved up as consensus develops.

Films - Magazines - Law (currently mostly "Fooish law")

Technical categories

• Images use the form "Images of country".
• Lists use the form "Country-related lists"
• Stubs use the form "Country stubs".

How to name the country

For "of country" and "in country" categories, the name of the country should appear as it does in the name of the article about that country, with a lowercase "the" if needed for grammatical purposes. Non-sovereign, disputed, supranational, and historical countries and geographic equivalents may be included if the articles to be categorized require it. For reference, see List of sovereign states, List of dependent territories, and the following list.

In category naming, country names should not be abbreviated (except to the extent that they are already in their respective article titles - for example, "United Kingdom", but not "UK" or "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland").

(Note: Links to articles are shown only for reference; links obviously cannot appear in the actual title of a category.)

• of the Republic of the Congo for Congo-Brazzaville
• of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for Congo-Kinshasa (formerly Zaire)
• of China (common name for the People's Republic of China)
• of Taiwan (common name for the Republic of China)
  • See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese)#Political NPOV
• of the Republic of Ireland (for the modern-day state)
• of Northern Ireland (for the modern-day country)
• of Cyprus (Greek and Turkish Cyprus usually have combined categories)
• of Samoa (independent country)
• of American Samoa (U.S. territory)
• of Russia (for the modern-day country)
• of the Bahamas
• of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• of the British Virgin Islands
• of the Cayman Islands
• of the Central African Republic
• of the Comoros
• of the Cook Islands
• of the Czech Republic
• of the Dominican Republic
• of the Falkland Islands
• of the Faroe Islands
• of the Federated States of Micronesia
• of the Gambia
• of Georgia (country)
• of the Isle of Man
• of Ivory Coast
• of Kosovo
• of the Maldives
• of Malta
• of the Marshall Islands
• of the Netherlands
• of the Netherlands Antilles
• of the Philippines
• of the Pitcairn Islands
• of the Republic of Macedonia
• of Saint Kitts and Nevis
• of Seychelles
• of the Solomon Islands
• of Ukraine
• of the United Arab Emirates
• of the United Kingdom
• of the United States
• of the United States Virgin Islands
• of Vatican City
• of Wallis and Futuna
• of Western Sahara
• of Azerbaijan
• of East Timor
• of Yemen (the modern-day country that unified former North and South Yemen in the 1990s)
• of North Korea
• of South Korea
• of Slovenia
• of Croatia
• of Serbia
• of Montenegro

Supranational:

• of the European Union
• of Ireland (island-wide)
• etc., on a case-by-case basis

Historical:

• of the Irish Free State (historical material only)
• of the Soviet Union (former country only)
• of Yugoslavia (former country only)
• of Serbia and Montenegro (former country only)
• etc., on a case-by-case basis

Dealing with overlaps

When historical and political complexities (such as mergers and splits) create articles that belong to two countries, do not create a "Foo of X and Y". Instead, list articles in both "Foo of X" and "Foo of Y"; for example, "Foo of Russia" and "Foo of the Soviet Union", not "Foo of Russia and the Soviet Union". The same applies for geographic features that cross national borders, for example "Foo of the United States" and "Foo of Canada", not "Foo of the United States and Canada".

Categories by nationality

All categories whose subcategories are categories by nationality (roughly all categories that are members of Category:People by nationality or Category:Works by nationality) shall have a per-category naming convention which will apply to all of their subcategories. These naming conventions, their guidelines and their exceptions are listed here. Non-conformance to these naming conventions shall be treated as a criterion for "speedy category renaming" as defined on WP:CFD. Changing these conventions shall require a consensual discussion either directly at WP:CFD or publicized there.

Biographies

Subcategories of these categories are named "nationality ...".

Murderers - Musical groups - People by nationality and occupation - People by occupation and nationality - People

Socio-cultural topics

National subcategories of these categories are named using the nationality rather than the country name, as they follow the national diasporas. However, the container categories are named "by country", e.g. Category:Society by country and Category:Culture by country.

Art - Cuisine - Culture - Literature - Music - Plays - Society

Note that many of the sub-topics of "Society" are named using the country name, and so are some cultural topics e.g. Architecture and Classical music.

How to name a nationality

A list of adjectival forms of place names is available on Wikipedia. In situations where multiple adjectives are possible for a particular nationality (e.g., Argentine vs. Argentinean), discussions at categories for discussion have frequently opted for one alternative over another to ensure consistency in category naming. Note that the singular-form demonym and adjective for many nationalities are not interchangeable. (i.e., Icelander vs. Icelandic; New Zealander vs. New Zealand). Most category names use the adjectival form, not the noun-form demonym.

Some states do not possess unambiguous (i.e., "Congolese" for Democratic Republic of the Congo) or universally-applicable (i.e., "Bosnian" for Bosnia and Herzegovina) adjectives. In these circumstances, the format "Country FOO"—where Country is the unamended name of the country—has been selected for use.

The list below reflects the most recent consensuses on what form to use for particular nationalities. These adopted forms may be subject to change by consensus and proposals to do so can be made by nominating the affected categories at categories for discussion. References are included to discussions that have discussed particular name formats.

Current nationalities

• Abkhazian FOOs (Abkhazia)
• Afghan FOOs (Afghanistan)
• Albanian FOOs (Albania)
• Algerian FOOs (Algeria)
• American FOOs (United States)
• American Samoan FOOs (American Samoa)
• Andorran FOOs (Andorra)
• Angolan FOOs (Angola)
• Anguillan FOOs (Anguilla)
• Antigua and Barbuda FOOs (Antigua and Barbuda)
• Argentine FOOs (Argentina)
• Armenian FOOs (Armenia)
• Aruban FOOs (Aruba)
• Australian FOOs (Australia)
• Austrian FOOs (Austria)
• Azerbaijani FOOs (Azerbaijani)
• Bahamaian FOOs (The Bahamas)
• Bahraini FOOs (Bahrain)
• Bangladeshi FOOs (Bangladesh)
• Barbadian FOOs (Barbados)
• Belarusian FOOs (Belarus)
• Belgian FOOs (Belgium)
• Belizean FOOs (Belize)
• Beninese FOOs (Benin)
• Bermudian (Bermuda)
• Bhutanese FOOs (Bhutan)
• Bissau-Guinean FOOs (Guinea-Bissau)
• Bolivian FOOs (Bolivia)
• Bonaire FOOs (Bonaire)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina FOOs (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Botswana FOOs (Botswana)
• Brazilian FOOs (Brazil)
• British FOOs (United Kingdom)
• British Antarctic Territory FOOs (British Antarctic Territory)
• British Indian Ocean Territory FOOs (British Indian Ocean Territory)
• British Virgin Islands FOOs (British Virgin Islands)
• Bruneian FOOs (Brunei)
• Bulgarian FOOs (Bulgaria)
• Burkinabé FOOs (Burkina Faso)
• Burmese FOOs (Myanmar)
• Burundian FOOs (Burundi)
• Cambodian FOOs (Cambodia)
• Cameroonian FOOs (Cameroon)
• Canadian FOOs (Canada)
• Cape Verdean FOOs (Cape Verde)
• Caymanian FOOs (Cayman Islands)
• Central African Republic FOOs (Central African Republic)
• Chadian FOOs (Chad)
• Chilean FOOs (Chile)
• Chinese FOOs (China)
• Colombian FOOs (Colombia)
• Comorian FOOs (Comoros)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo FOOs (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
• Republic of the Congo FOOs (Republic of the Congo)
• Cook Island FOOs (for people); Cook Islands FOOs (for inanimate things) (Cook Islands)
• Costa Rican FOOs (Costa Rica)
• Croatian FOOs (Croatia)
• Cuban FOOs (Cuba)
• Curaçao FOOs (Curaçao)
• Cypriot FOOs (Cyprus)
• Czech FOOs (Czech Republic)
• Danish FOOs (Denmark)
• Djiboutian FOOs (Djibouti)
• Dominica FOOs (Dominica)
• Dominican Republic FOOs (Dominican Republic)
• Dutch FOOs (Netherlands)
• East Timorese FOOs (East Timor)
• Ecuadorian FOOs (Ecuador)
• Egyptian FOOs (Egypt)
• Emirati FOOs (United Arab Emirates)
• English FOOs (England)
• Equatoguinean FOOs (Equatorial Guinea)
• Eritrean FOOs (Eritrea)
• Estonian FOOs (Estonia)
• Ethiopian FOOs (Ethiopia)
• Falkland Islands FOOs (Falkland Islands)
• Faroese FOOs (Faroe Islands)
• Fijian FOOs (Fiji)
• Filipino FOOs (for people); Philippine FOOs (for inanimate things) (Philippines)
• Finnish FOOs (Finland)
• French FOOs (France)
• French Guianan FOOs (French Guiana)
• French Polynesian FOOs (French Polynesia)
• Gabonese FOOs (Gabon)
• Gambian FOOs (The Gambia)
• FOOs from/of Georgia (Georgia)
• German FOOs (Germany)
• Ghanaian FOOs (Ghana)
• Gibraltarian FOOs (Gibraltar)
• Greek FOOs (Greece)
• Greenlandic FOOs (Greenland)
• Grenadian FOOs (Grenada)
• Guadeloupean FOOs (Guadeloupe)
• Guam FOOs (Guam)
• Guatemalan FOOs (Guatemala)
• Guinean FOOs (Guinea)
• Guyanese FOOs (Guyana)
• Haitian FOOs (Haiti)
• Honduran FOOs (Honduras)
• Hong Kong FOOs (Hong Kong)
• Hungarian FOOs (Hungary)
• Icelandic FOOs (Iceland)
• Indian FOOs (India)
• Indonesian FOOs (Indonesia)
• Iranian FOOs (Iran)
• Iraqi FOOs (Iraq)
• Irish FOOs (Ireland)
• Israeli FOOs (Israel)
• Italian FOOs (Italy)
• Ivorian FOOs (Ivory Coast)
• Jamaican FOOs (Jamaica)
• Japanese FOOs (Japan)
• Jordanian FOOs (Jordan)
• Kazakhstani FOOs (Kazakhstan)
• Kenyan FOOs (Kenya)
• I-Kiribati FOOs (Kiribati)
• Kosovan FOOs (Kosovo)
• Kuwaiti FOOs (Kuwait)
• Kyrgyzstani FOOs (Kyrgyzstan)
• Laotian FOOs (Laos)
• Latvian FOOs (Latvia)
• Lebanese FOOs (Lebanon)
• Lesotho FOOs (Lesotho)
• Liberian FOOs (Liberia)
• Libyan FOOs (Libya)
• Liechtenstein FOOs (Liechtenstein)
• Lithuanian FOOs (Lithuanian)
• Luxembourgian FOOs (Luxembourg)
• Macau FOOs (Macau)
• Macedonian FOOs (Republic of Macedonia)
• Malagasy FOOs (Madagascar)
• Malawian FOOs (Malawi)
• Malaysian FOOs (Malaysia)
• Maldivian FOOs (Maldives)
• Malian FOOs (Mali)
• Maltese FOOs (Malta)
• Marshallese FOOs (Marshall Islands)
• Mauritanian FOOs (Mauritania)
• Mauritian FOOs (Mauritius)
• Mexican FOOs (Mexico)
• Federated States of Micronesia FOOs (Federated States of Micronesia)
• Moldovan FOOs (Moldova)
• Monegasque FOOs (Monaco)
• Mongolian FOOs (Mongolia)
• Montenegrin FOOs (Montenegro)
• Montserratian FOOs (Montserrat)
• Moroccan FOOs (Morocco)
• Mozambican FOOs (Mozambique)
• Namibian FOOs (Namibia)
• Nauruan FOOs (Nauru)
• Nepalese FOOs (Nepal)
• New Caledonian FOOs (New Caledonia)
• New Zealand FOOs (New Zealand)
• Nicaragua FOOs (Nicaraguan)
• Nigerian FOOs (Nigeria)
• Nigerien FOOs (Niger)
• Niuean FOOs (Niue)
• North Korean FOOs (North Korea)
• FOOs from/of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland)
• Northern Mariana Islands FOOs (Northern Mariana Islands)
• Norwegian FOOs (Norway)
• Omani FOOs (Oman)
• Pakistani FOOs (Pakistan)
• Palauan FOOs (Palau)
• Palestinian FOOs (State of Palestine)
• Panamanian FOOs (Panama)
• Papua New Guinean FOOs (Papua New Guinea)
• Paraguayan FOOs (Paraguay)
• Peruvian FOOs (Peru)
• Pitcairn Islands FOOs (Pitcairn Islands)
• Polish FOOs (Poland)
• Portuguese FOOs (Portugal)
• Puerto Rican FOOs (Puerto Rico)
• Qatari FOOs (Qatar)
• Romanian FOOs (Romania)
• Russian FOOs (Russia)
• Rwandan FOOs (Rwanda)
• Saba FOOs (Saba)
• Sahrawi FOOs (Western Sahara)
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha FOOs (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
• Saint Kitts and Nevis FOOs (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
• Saint Lucian FOOs (Saint Lucia)
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines FOOs (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
• Salvadoran FOOs (El Salvador)
• Samoan FOOs (Samoa)
• Sammarinese FOOs (San Marino)
• São Tomé and Príncipe FOOs (São Tomé and Príncipe)
• Saudi Arabian FOOs (Saudi Arabia)
• Scottish FOOs (Scotland)
• Senegalese FOOs (Senegal)
• Serbian FOOs (Serbia)
• Seychellois FOOs (Seychelles)
• Sierra Leonean FOOs (Sierra Leone)
• Singaporean FOOs (Singapore)
• Sint Eustatius FOOs (Sint Eustatius)
• Sint Maarten FOOs (Sint Maarten)
• Slovak FOOs (Slovakia)
• Slovenian FOOs (Slovenia)
• Solomon Islands FOOs (Solomon Islands)
• Somalian FOOs (Somalia)
• Somaliland FOOs (Somaliland)
• South African FOOs (South Africa)
• South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands FOOs (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)
• South Korean FOOs (South Korea)
• South Ossetian FOOs (South Ossetia)
• South Sudanese FOOs (South Sudan)
• Spanish FOOs (Spain)
• Sri Lankan FOOs (Sri Lanka)
• Sudanese FOOs (Sudan)
• Surinamese FOOs (Suriname)
• Swazi FOOs (Swaziland)
• Swedish FOOs (Sweden)
• Swiss FOOs (Switzerland)
• Syrian FOOs (Syria)
• Taiwanese FOOs (Taiwan)
• Tajikistani FOOs (Tajikistan)
• Tanzanian FOOs (Tanzania)
• Thai FOOs (Thailand)
• Tokelauan FOOs (Tokelau)
• Tongan FOOs (Tonga)
• Trinidad and Tobago FOOs (Trinidad and Tobago)
• Tunisian FOOs (Tunisia)
• Turkish FOOs (Turkey)
• Turkish Cypriot FOOs (Northern Cyprus)
• Turkmenistan FOOs (Turkmenistan)
• Turks and Caicos Islands FOOs (Turks and Caicos Islands)
• Tuvaluan FOOs (Tuvalu)
• Ugandan FOOs (Uganda)
• Ukrainian FOOs (Ukraine)
• United States Virgin Islands FOOs (United States Virgin Islands)
• Uruguayan FOOs (Uruguay)
• Uzbekistani FOOs (Uzbekistan)
• Vanuatuan FOOs (Vanuatu)
• Vatican City FOOs (Vatican City)
• Venezuelan FOOs (Venezuela)
• Vietnamese FOOs (Vietnam)
• Wallis and Futuna FOOs (Wallis and Futuna)
• Welsh FOOs (Wales)
• Zambian FOOs (Zambia)
• Zimbabwean FOOs (Zimbabwe)

Former nationalities

In general, the formats for people of former nationalities is less settled. The list below represents examples which are reasonably well settled. Many categories for people of former nationalities with a compound name use a "FOOs from Country" or "FOOs of Country" format.

• Austro-Hungarian FOOs (Austria-Hungary)
• Byzantine FOOs (Byzantine Empire)
• Czechoslovak FOOs (Czechoslovakia)
• Dutch Antillean FOOs (Netherlands Antilles)
• Ancient Egyptian FOOs (Ancient Egypt)
• East German FOOs (East Germany)
• Ottoman FOOs (Ottoman Empire)
• Rhodesian FOOs (Rhodesia)
• FOOs from/of the Russian Empire (Russian Empire)
• Serbia and Montenegro FOOs (Serbia and Montenegro)
• Soviet FOOs (Soviet Union)
• Republic of Venice FOOs (Republic of Venice)
• West German FOOs (West Germany)
• North Yemeni FOOs (North Yemen)
• South Yemeni FOOs (South Yemen)
• West German FOOs (West Germany)
• Yugoslav FOOs (Yugoslavia)

Works of art categories by artist

All categories whose subcategories are categories by creative artist (roughly all categories that are members of Category:Works by artist) shall have a per-category naming convention which will apply to all of their subcategories. These naming conventions, their guidelines and their exceptions are listed here. Non-conformance to these naming conventions shall be treated as a criterion for "speedy category renaming" as defined at WP:CFD. Changing these conventions shall require a consensual discussion either directly at WP:CFD or publicized there.

Music by composer

Subcategories of these categories are named "Compositions by [composer]".

Compositions by composer – Operas by composer – Symphonies by composer – Songs by composer

Music by performer

Subcategories of these categories are named "[Performer] works".

Albums by artist – Songs by artist

Visual arts

If there is only one type of work with articles, the subcategory is "[type of works] by [Artist]", eg "Paintings by Foo". A "Works by Foo" category is only needed if there are two categories for different types (paintings and drawings, for example).

Paintings by artist – Sculptures by artist

Architecture

Subcategories of these categories are named "[Architect] buildings", with exceptions for architects involved in more than one type of work.

Buildings and structures by architect

Literature

Subcategories of these categories are named "[Works] by [writer]".

Works by writer – Novels by writer – Books by writer – Essay collections by writer – Essays by writer – Picture books by writer – Plays by writer – Poetry by writer – Short stories by writer – Short story collections by writer

Stage and screen

Subcategories of these categories are named "[Works] by [person]".

Films by director – Films with screenplays by writer – Plays by writer – Television shows by writer

Name of the artist

The name used should match the name of the biography article about the person, including any disambiguator, e.g. Category:Books by Peter Carey (novelist). The only exceptions are categories for visual arts, where the name used for the artist may instead match usage within the articles on the works; e.g. Category:Paintings by Sergei Ivanovich Osipov does not have to follow the article name Sergei Osipov (artist).

Works of art categories by subject

Categories by the subject which is depicted follow the usual naming for that subject within articles and citations (including spelling and capitalisation), rather than the name of the Wikipedia article on the topic. For example:

• Category:Entombment of Christ in art and Category:Paintings depicting the Entombment of Christ, although the generic parent Category:Burial of Jesus follows the article Burial of Jesus
• Category:Venus in art and Category:Temples of Venus etc, although the generic parent Category:Venus (mythology) follows the article Venus (mythology)