Wikipedia:Naming conventions (definite and indefinite articles at beginning of name)

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This page is a naming conventions guideline for Wikipedia, reflecting how authors of this encyclopedia address certain issues. This guideline is intended to help you improve Wikipedia content. Feel free to update this page as needed, but please use the discussion page to propose major changes.

Shortcut: WP:NCD

Main article: Wikipedia:Naming conventions

Convention:

• If the name of the article is not the title of a work, an official name, or another proper name, avoid the definite ("the") and indefinite ("a"/"an") articles at the beginning of a page name.
• If the name of the article is the title of a work, an official name, or another proper name then do or do not include "the", "a" or "an" in the name, according to the following rule of thumb.

Apart from this general approach, specific uses are allowed under this convention:

• If a word without a definite article would have a general meaning, while the same word has a specific and identifiable meaning, understood by all, if adding the article, and if there is justification to have separate articles for both meanings, the specific meaning can be explained on a separate page, with a page title including the article. Example: "crown" means the headgear worn by a monarch, other high dignitaries, divinities etcetera; while "The Crown" is a term used to indicate the government authority and the property of that government in a monarchy.

Contents 1 Rule of thumb 2 When definite and indefinite articles should be used 2.1 Titles of works 2.2 Names of bands and groups 2.3 Official names 3 When definite and indefinite articles should be avoided 3.1 Universities 3.2 Other cases

[edit] Rule of thumb

If the definite or indefinite article article would be capitalized in running text, then include it at the beginning of the page name. Otherwise, do not include it at the beginning of the page name.

(See rules and examples from the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual and rules from The Columbia Guide to Standard American English.)

For example, you would write:

The person read The Old Man and the Sea.

but

Two of the nations where English-speaking people live are the United Kingdom and the United States

Similarly:

• White House is preferred over The White House
• Middle East is preferred over The Middle East

[edit] When definite and indefinite articles should be used

[edit] Titles of works

This applies to literary works as well as works in other media, such as film and the visual arts. Examples:

• A Clockwork Orange (film)
• "The Lady or the Tiger?" (short story)
• The New York Times (newspaper)
• The Old Man and the Sea (novella)

This only applies if the definite or indefinite article is actually a part of the title of the work. Thus, Mona Lisa is preferred to The Mona Lisa.

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

• The Rite of Spring - In Russian, the native language of its composer, the title is without definite article; in French, since the first public performance of the work it has always been Le Sacre du Printemps (using 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 the English translations of these titles (for example: The Three Musketeers), except one: La Reine Margot, using a definite article, is usually translated as Queen Margot ("The Queen Margot" would rather sound like a ship's name).

So whether a definite or indefinite article is used in English also depends on differing sensibilities in different languages. There are also several languages (like Latin) that don't have a definite article, which gives not much clues whether an article would be part of a title, and often leads to alternate translations, some translators using a definite article for the English version of the title while others don't.

The rule of thumb regarding these translated titles of works resumes to: If there's 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:

• Republic (dialogue) is preferred over The Republic (dialogue) (article not used in title in original language)
• Histories (Tacitus) is preferred over The Histories (Tacitus), and Journey to the West is preferred over The Journey to the West (original language has no definite article)

[edit] Names of bands and groups

Names of musical groups that use "the"; examples:

• The Bangles
• The Beatles (see WP:TBP)
• The Corrs
• The Rolling Stones
• The The
• The Who

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.

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).

[edit] Official names

• The Citadel
• The Hague
• The Nature Conservancy
• The Football Association

[edit] When definite and indefinite articles should be avoided

[edit] Universities

The definite article should not be used for universities, even if the official name of the university uses the definite article, as indicated on the website links below. Thus, the most-common-name rule supersedes the official name. Examples:

• University of Arizona [1]
• University of Chicago [2]
• University of Oklahoma [3]
• University of New Mexico [4]
• University of South Dakota [5]
• University of Texas at Austin [6]
• University of Tulsa [7]
• University of Vermont [8]
• University of Wisconsin-Madison [9]

[edit] Other cases

Definite and indefinite articles should be avoided for all cases not mentioned above. Examples:

• apple, not an apple
• Cultural Revolution, not The Cultural Revolution
• dog, not a dog
• Earth, not The Earth
• Eiffel Tower, not The Eiffel Tower
• Joker (comics), not The Joker
• Middle East, not The Middle East
• Netherlands, not The Netherlands
• RMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Queen Elizabeth, etc, not The Queen Elisabeth (see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships))
• Roman Catholic Church, not The Roman Catholic Church
• United States, not The United States
• university, not a university
• White House, not The White House