Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Macedonia)

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From Macedonia (terminology):

The various terms used to describe the different (and frequently overlapping) geographical, political and historical areas of the region traditionally referred to as Macedonia are often a source of confusion for people from other parts of the world, and seemingly for the inhabitants of the region themselves.

1 Principles
2 Contentions
3 Proposal A
4 Proposal B
5 Proposal C

[edit] Principles

Self-identification
Term of least offense

[edit] Contentions

Name of an ethnic group
Name of region
Name of nation state
Name of a language

[edit] Proposal A

In articles about Greek Macedonia, "Macedonian" will be taken to mean "of Greek Macedonia", or "Greek Macedonian".
1. The Republic of Macedonia will be referred to as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
2. The Macedonian language will be referred to as "Macedonian Slavic".
3. The Macedonian people will be referred to as "Macedonian Slavs".
In articles about the Republic of Macedonia, or about the ethnic Macedonians, "Macedonian" will be taken to mean "of Republic of Macedonia", or "the Macedonian language", or "the Macedonian people".
1. The region of Greek Macedonia will be referred to as "Greek Macedonia".
2. Greek Macedonians will be referred to as "Greek Macedonians".
In articles dealing with Ancient Macedonia, "Macedonian" will mean "of Ancient Macedonia", "the Ancient Macedonian language" or "the Ancient Macedonian people".
Articles not directly related to the region will use the self-identifying term. For example, "Serbia borders the Republic of Macedonia" or "notable person is from Macedonia, in Greece".
Every article which uses the term should have a short, standardised note on first use explaining the controversy and linking to the naming dispute.

[edit] Proposal B

Please note that this proposal assumes our editors and readers are not deprived of any wit, and involves a lot of common sense. N.B. Wikipedia is not a government agency of any sort, so we don't have to call anything the way some government does.

Country and region
1. Modern country which calls itself Macedonia should be called Republic of Macedonia in all articles.
2. It shall be made clear in Republic of Macedonia that a naming dispute exists, and worked out in detail. In fact, it merits its own article.
3. Macedonian region, as a geographical term, should be called Macedonian region or simply Macedonia if in a context where two cannot be confused.
4. Greek parts of Macedonia should be referred to as Greek Macedonia or Macedonia (Greece), depending on the sentence structure.
People
1. Ethnic group which identifies itself as Macedonian should be referred to as Macedonian (majority ethnic group of Republic of Macedonia) where it may cause ambiguity.
2. Citizens of Republic of Macedonia (nationality), should be called Citizens of Republic of Macedonia.
3. In articles dealing with Ancient Macedonia, "Macedonian" will mean "of Ancient Macedonia", "the Ancient Macedonian language" or "the Ancient Macedonian people".
Every article which uses the term should have a short, standardised note on first use explaining the controversy and linking to the naming dispute.