Wikipedia:Naming conventions (definite or indefinite article at beginning of name)

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Main page: Wikipedia:Article titles

Introduction: This article is about naming conventions for Wikipedia articles, and discusses use of "The," "a," and "an" at the start of an article title. There are some situations where they are warranted, but many where they are not. When used inappropriately, they violate common usage, only serving as noise words. More importantly, this can causes problems with the length of the name, the article quick search function, and sorting. Due to these problems, the default rule is to not include them unless certain specific conditions are met, usually where they are integral to the article subject's name.

Convention: In general, a definite ("the") or indefinite ("a"/"an") article should be included at the beginning of the title of a Wikipedia page only if at least one of the following conditions is met:

  1. If a word with a definite article has a different meaning with respect to the same word without the article, the word with article can be used as the name of a page about that meaning, and the word without article can be used as the name of a separate page.
    For example, "crown" means the headgear worn by a monarch or other high dignitaries, while "The Crown" is a term used to indicate the government authority and the property of that government in a monarchy.
  2. If the definite or indefinite article would be capitalized in running text, then include it at the beginning of the page name. Otherwise, do not.[1][2][3]
    For example, The Old Man and the Sea includes the article "The" because sentences such as "Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1951" are written with a capitalized "The".
    On the contrary, United States does not include the article "The", because sentences such as "California is part of the United States" are written with a lowercase "the".

These conditions are sometimes met if the page name is:

Not all of the page names which belong to these categories meet the above-listed conditions. For instance, Mona Lisa is the name of a work of art, and Eurythmics is the name of a musical band, but neither includes a definite or indefinite article.

When definite and indefinite articles should be used

Titles of works and publications

The definite or indefinite article is sometimes included in the official title of literary works as well as other kinds of fiction and non-fiction publications and works such as newspapers, films and visual artworks. In this case, the article should be included in the name of the corresponding Wikipedia page as well. For example,

This does not applies if the definite or indefinite article is not a part of the official title of the work or publication. Thus, Mona Lisa is preferred to The Mona Lisa. Particular usages for the titles of visual artworks are described in the Art Manual of Style.

Whether an article is actually part of the title of a work can be a bit hard to distinguish when translation is involved. For example,

  • The Rite of Spring - In Russian, the native language of the work's composer, the title is without a definite article (and standard Russian has no definite article); in French, since the first public performance of the work, it has always been Le Sacre du Printemps (with the definite article).
  • The Scream - Original Norwegian without article (Skrik).
  • For most of Alexandre Dumas, père's works the article is used the same way in the original French and in the English translations of the titles (for example, The Three Musketeers), except one: La Reine Margot, with a definite article, is usually translated as Queen Margot ("The Queen Margot" would sound rather like a ship's name).

Whether a definite or indefinite article is used in English also depends on differing sensibilities in different languages. There are several languages (like Latin) that do not have a definite article, giving no guidance whether an article would be part of a title. This often leads to alternative translations, with some translators using a definite article for the English version of the title and others not. The rule of thumb regarding these translated titles of works is this: if there is the least bit of ambiguity whether the article is always used in a translation of the title, it is preferred not to start the Wikipedia page name with an article. For example,

For newspapers, the general rule is to follow the name of the publication as it actually appears on the masthead. For instance, Canada's two major national newspapers are titled The Globe and Mail (with The) and National Post (without The); an article about a newspaper should never be titled with The if it is not present in the masthead.

Names of groups, sports teams and companies

When a proper name is almost always used with capitalized "The", especially if it is included by unofficial sources, the article "The" should be used in the name of the corresponding Wikipedia page as well. For instance, this is true for the names of some musical groups:

This only applies if the definite article is actually used by the band on their musical publications (CDs, audiotapes, records, etc.) or on their official website. Conversely, some bands — such as Eurythmics, Eagles, Pixies and Odds — do not in fact have the in their names, even though they may sometimes be referred to as The (Name) in everyday speech. In all cases, default to the form of the name that is actually used by the band themselves, and use "(band)" to disambiguate if necessary.

This also extends to some non-musical groups, and even beyond "official" naming, for example The Invincibles (which is the nickname of several sports teams).

Sometimes, the article "The" is also used at the beginning of the names of companies. For instance:

Other proper names

Besides the above-mentioned cases, "The" is sometimes used at the beginning of some other proper names:

When definite and indefinite articles should be avoided

Universities

A definite article should be applied only if The is used in running text throughout university materials and if that usage has caught on elsewhere. Otherwise, do not use the definite article for universities. This guideline is a weak version of the most-common-name rule.

Most universities do not have a definite article in their names. This includes institutions whose websites might suggest otherwise; for example:

The preceding websites include title phrases "The University of X", but in running text, they refer to themselves as "the University of X". According to the rule of thumb, "The" is not considered to be a part of their name, so the Wikipedia article is named University of X.

On the other hand, some universities only refer to themselves as "The University of X", even in running text (e.g. The College of New Jersey). If such usage is prevalent on university press releases and press kits, contact information, "about" pages, and internal department websites, and it is reasonably common in external sources (try a Google search), then it is more appropriate to name the Wikipedia article The University of X.

Finally, if common usage has overwhelmingly rejected the The, then it should be omitted regardless of university usage.

Other cases

Definite and indefinite articles should generally be avoided in cases not mentioned above. For example,

References

  1. ^ rules
  2. ^ examples from the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual
  3. ^ rules from The Columbia Guide to Standard American English.
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