FamilySearch Wiki:Naming Conventions

This page offers best practices in naming articles, categories, images, files, and templates on FamilySearch Wiki.

Policies specific to FamilySearch Wiki

The following policies were vetted in the FamilySearch Wiki contributor forum and arrived at by a vote of at least 2:1.

Place names in article titles

Ascending order

When adding place names to article titles, add jurisdictions in ascending order (smallest to largest).

Correct: "Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland"

Incorrect: "Maryland, Montgomery County, Rockville"

Example: "Cemetery Records of Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland"

Resources

General

Category:Wikipedia naming conventions
Wikipedia:Naming conventions
Wikipedia:Naming conflict
Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)

Special rules for templates

Spaces in the name are allowed, e.g. {{train topics}}. The first character (only) is not case-sensitive, so {{cleanup}} and {{Cleanup}}are the same template, but {{cfd}}and {{cfD}}are not.

The template name in general should be short. Many on Wikipedia are abbreviations.

Special rules for namespaces

Only a system admin can create a namespace. Namespaces should be created only after much discussion. The name should be a single word.

Headings:
Wikipedia:Manual of Style - Section headings
Help:Section - Creation and numbering of sections

Categories:
Wikipedia:Naming conventions & categories