 | This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
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Introduction: This guideline 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 cause problems with the length of the name, the quick search function, and sorting. Due to these problems, the default rule is to exclude 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" or "an") article should be included at the beginning of the title of a Wikipedia article only if at least one of the following conditions is met:
These conditions are sometimes met if the Wikipedia article name is:
Not all of the Wikipedia article 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.
These guidelines also apply to foreign-language equivalents, such as Spanish El/La, German Das/Der/Die, etc.
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 article as well. For example,
This does not apply 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:
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 article 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.
This The convention also applies to publishers named for work titles, e.g.: The New York Times and The New York Times Company.
When a proper name is almost always used with "The", especially if it is included by unaffiliated sources, the article "The" should be used in the name of the corresponding Wikipedia article as well. For instance, this is true for the names of some musical groups:
This only applies if the definite article is used by the band on their musical publications (CDs, audiotapes, records, etc.) or on their official website. Conversely, some bands do not have the in their names, even though they may sometimes (or even often) be referred to as "the (Name)" in everyday speech:
In all cases, default the article title to the form of the name that is used by the band themselves, and use "(band)" to disambiguate if necessary. If a band is officially known without a definite article, but the members typically refer to their group as "the (Name)" in everyday speech, then the definite article should be included in running prose.
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). (See MOS:THECAPS for use of "The" and "the" in running prose.)
Sometimes, the article "The" is also used at the beginning of the names of companies. For instance:
Besides the above-mentioned cases, "The" is sometimes used at the beginning of some other proper names:
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, e.g. Ohio State University.
Definite and indefinite articles should generally be avoided in cases not mentioned above. For example,
However, it can be used in cases of prevailing common use. For example:
