TechInfoDepot:Category names

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

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).
 * 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

 * People are sometimes categorized by notable ancestry, culture, or ethnicity. The standard form for such category names is "BARian people of FOOian descent", where "BARian" is the person's nationality (country of citizenship) and "FOOian" is the person's ethnic ancestry. See, e.g., Category:Irish people of Ghanaian descent; Category:American people of German descent. (An exception to this format is the subcategories of Category:Israeli people by ethnic or national origin, which use "Israeli people of FOOian origin".)
 * Categories that intersect heritage with occupation or other such categories should only be created where that combination is itself recognized as a distinct and unique cultural topic in its own right, as with Category:African American politicians (see WP:OCAT for a discussion). Such categories should be treated as distinguished category (see discussion here), such that included articles should be otherwise integrated into the nationality/occupation category structure outside of the heritage subcategory.
 * 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.
 * The place of birth is rarely notable and therefore categories that designate place of birth are discouraged.

Residence

 * People are sometimes categorized by notable residence, in the form People from Foo (not "Natives of Foo"), regardless of ethnicity, heritage, or nationality.
 * Residential categories should not be used to record people that have never resided in that place. Nationality is reflected by the occupation category (above), not country or county or city of residence.
 * The place of birth is rarely notable.
 * 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 redirected to People from Foo, assisting in automated categorization (for example, Category:New Yorkers).

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 " 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.

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 - 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  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".

Foreign relations - Government - Military - Military equipment - Military units and formations - Municipalities * - National parks - Postal systems - Protected areas - Subdivisions
 * 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  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  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 - Conservation - Crime - Disasters - Education - Ethnic groups - Health - Human rights - Landmarks - Law enforcement - 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 - Media - 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.

(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 the People's Republic of China" (commonly known as "China")
 * of the Republic of China (commonly known as "Taiwan")
 * See also: TechInfoDepot:Naming conventions (Chinese)
 * 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 Comoros
 * of Côte d'Ivoire
 * of the Cook Islands
 * of the Czech Republic
 * of the Dominican Republic
 * of the European Union
 * 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 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".

Categories by nationality
All categories whose subcategories are categories by nationality (roughly all categories that are members of Category:Categories 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
Subcategories of these categories are named "nationality ...".

Art - Architecture - Classical music - Cuisine - Culture - Literature - Music - Plays - Radio programs - Society

How to name a nationality
A list of adjectival forms of place names is available on TechInfoDepot. In situations where multiple adjectives are possible, please note that no official policy exists as to which one is favoured. Note that the singular-form demonym and adjective for many nationalities are not interchangeable. (i.e. Icelander vs. Icelandic)

Some states do not possess unambiguous (i.e. Democratic Republic of the Congo) or universally-applicable (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina) adjectives. In these circumstances, users should use the format "Country foo", where Country is the unamended name of the country. Examples of this usage are Category:Democratic Republic of the Congo society, Category:Trinidad and Tobago people, Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina politicians, Category:Republic of the Congo culture, Category:Dominica people, Category:Dominican Republic athletes, Category:Saint Kitts and Nevis businesspeople, and Category:Antigua and Barbuda writers.

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 on 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
Subcategories of these categories are named "[Artist] [works]", with exceptions for artists involved in more than one type of work.

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.

-- Category:Buildings and structures by architect

Literature
Subcategories of these categories are named "[Work(s)] by [Author]".

Works by author -- Novels by author -- Books by author -- Essay collections by author -- Essays by author -- Picture books by author -- Plays by author -- Poetry by author -- Screenplays by author -- Short stories by author -- Short story collections by author

Stage and screen
Subcategories of these categories are named "[Works] by [Person]".

Films by director -- Plays by author -- Screenplays by author