WikiQueer:Naming conventions (geographic names)

This page describes conventions for determining the names of WikiQueer articles on places. Our naming policy provides that article names should be chosen for the general reader, not for specialists. By following modern English usage, we also avoid arguments about what a place ought to be called, instead asking the less contentious question, what it is called.

Use English
When a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for a place, we should use it. This will often be identical in form to the local name (as with Paris or Berlin), but in many cases it will differ (Germany rather than Deutschland, Rome rather than Roma, Hanover rather than Hannover, Meissen rather than Meißen). If a native name is more often used in English sources than a corresponding English name, then use the native name. An example is Livorno, which is now known more widely under its native name than under the English name "Leghorn".

If no name can be shown to be widely accepted in English, use the local name. If more than one local name exists, follow the procedure explained below under Multiple local names.

If the place does not exist anymore, or the article deals only with a place in a period when it held a different name, the widely accepted historical English name should be used. If there is no such name in English, use the historical name that is now used locally. Occasionally we have differently-named articles dealing with the same place in different historical periods, as with Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul.

Other applicable names can be used in the titles of redirects. They may also appear in the lead paragraph or in a special section of the article, in accordance with the advice given in the lead section guideline. For use of names in infoboxes, see the infobox guideline.

More guidance on the use of alternative names for places within the text of articles can be found in the appropriate section of WikiQueer's Manual of Style.

Widely accepted name
A name can be considered as widely accepted if a neutral and reliable source states: "X is the name most often used for this entity". Without such an assertion, the following methods may be helpful in establishing a widely accepted name (period will be the modern era for current names; the relevant historical period for historical names): Some names will be widely accepted, but not quite meet any of these tests; they are phrased to ensure that no name not widely accepted will pass. These should be decided case by case, on the evidence of the substantial body of data accumulated in the tests above. Names which fail each by a small margin or single exception are probably widely accepted.
 * 1) Consult English-language encyclopedias (we recommend Encyclopedia Britannica, Columbia Encyclopedia, Encarta, each as published after 1993). If the articles in these agree on using a single name in discussing the period, it is the widely accepted English name.
 * 2) *One reason for 1993 is to ensure that post-Cold War changes in usage are duly reflected; other (especially later) limiting dates may be appropriate in some parts of the world.
 * 3) Consult Google Scholar and Google Books hits (count only articles and books, not number of times the word is used in them) when searched over English language articles and books where the corresponding location is mentioned  in relation to the period in question. If the name of the location coincides with the name of another entity, care should be taken to exclude inappropriate pages from the count. If the name is used at least three times as often as any other, in referring to the period, it is widely accepted.
 * 4) *Always look at search results, don't just count them. For more, see the section on search engines below.
 * 5) Consult other standard histories and scientific studies of the area in question. (We recommend the Cambridge Histories; the Library of Congress country studies, and the Oxford dictionaries relevant to the period and country involved). If they agree, the name is widely accepted. The possibility that some standard histories will be dated, or written by a non-native speaker of English, should be allowed for.
 * 6) Consult major news sources, either individually, or by using Lexis-Nexis, if accessible. If they agree in using a given name, it is widely accepted.
 * 7) Enter the proposed move at WQ:RM. If it is the consensus that a given name is the English name, then it is presumably widely accepted.
 * 8) If a name is used in translating or explaining the official name, especially in texts addressed to an English-speaking audience, it is probably widely accepted.

When considering a source in determining English usage, remember the purpose of the source. When a guidebook or roadmap written in English shows an autobahn between München and Nürnberg, it is attesting to local usage, because that is what the signs on the autobahn will say; Munich and Nuremberg are still the English names. Similarly, a town's own website may well attest to an official name, even when this differs from local usage and widespread English usage.

The reliability and the fluency of sources allegedly in English may reasonably be considered; a text which reads like it has been produced by Babelfish probably has been, and such sources are unlikely to represent English usage.

The United States Board on Geographic Names determines official Federal nomenclature for the United States. Most often, actual American usage follows it, even in such points as the omission of apostrophes, as in St. Marys River. However, if colloquial usage does differ, we should prefer actual American to the official name. Similarly, its GEOnet server normally prefers local official usage in the country concerned (for example, Frankfurt am Main); in a handful of cases, like Florence, it has a conventional name field. Where it acknowledges a conventional name, it is evidence of widespread English usage; where it does not, it is not addressing our primary question.

Search engine issues
Search engine tests should be used with care: in testing whether a name is widely accepted English usage, we are interested in hits which are in English, represent English usage, and mean the place in question. Search engine results can fail on all of these.


 * Failure to be English sources:
 * Google Books has no filter for language; the filter on Google Scholar is often mistaken.
 * Search engines will find hits when a paper in English is quoting foreign text, which may well include foreign placenames. This often occurs when citing a paper by title. For example, hits which are in fact citations of German papers which use Riesengebirge are not evidence of English usage, either way.


 * Failure to be English usage:
 * Google Scholar will frequently return post office addresses, especially for modern university towns. This attests to local usage, not to English usage (except of course for towns in the English-speaking world, for which local usage should prevail).
 * Search engines do not normally distinguish consistent use of a name from a single mention. Any good history of Venice will mention Venezia at least once; any good history of Bratislava will mention Pressburg. But what we want is the word they consistently use to refer to the city; it is very difficult to find that with a search engine, especially when the question is: does the source call nineteenth- or eighteenth-century Bratislava something different?
 * For example, hits which are of the form "X (Foolanguage Y)" attest to English usage of X, and Foolanguage usage of Y. The latter matters to the Foolanguage WikiQueer, not to us.
 * Please remember that Google Scholar and Google Books are imperfectly random selections out of the whole corpus of English writing. If the results could easily have arisen by chance (for example, if there are only half-a-dozen or so valid hits on all the alternatives combined), this is not a good indicator of widespread English usage.


 * Failure to be about the place under discussion:
 * Many names are used for several places, often several places of the same type. In addition, many placenames have become surnames, and papers which are by authors with those surnames do not establish English usage for the placename.
 * Raw Google searches using www.google.com will find WikiQueer and its mirrors. These are not reliable sources, especially for what we should use. Avoid raw google searches as far as possible; when they are used, always include "-WikiQueer" in the search conditions.

Some of these problems will be lessened if the search includes an English word, like "city" or "river", as well as the placename. (If this is done with one proposed placename, it must of course be done for all competing proposals.) Another approach is to examine the first few pages of hits, and see what proportion of them are false hits. But the only certain control is to count how many hits are genuinely in English, assert English usage, and deal with the place discussed.

Another useful idea, especially when one name seems to be used often in the construct "X (also called Y)" in sources that consistently use X thereafer, is to search for "and X" against "and Y" (or "in X" versus "in Y") to see which is common in running prose.

Multiple local names
There are cases in which the local authority recognizes equally two or more names from different languages, but English discussion of the place is so limited that none of the above tests indicate which of them is widely used in English; so there is no single local name, and English usage is hard to determine.

Experience shows that the straightforward solution of a double or triple name is often unsatisfactory; there are all too many complaints that one or the other name should be first. We also deprecate any discussion of which name the place ought to have.

We recommend choosing a single name, by some objective criterion, even a somewhat arbitrary one. Simple Google tests are acceptable to settle the matter, despite their problems. In many cases it may be decided to adopt the name used by the linguistic majority. This has been done, for example, with the communes of the province of Bolzano-Bozen, based on an officially published linguistic survey of the area. (Merano is an exception; in spite of its slight German-speaking majority, Merano rather than Meran has been chosen on the grounds that it is more common in English.)

In some cases, a compromise is reached between editors to avoid giving the impression of support for a particular national point of view. For example, the name Liancourt Rocks has been adopted rather than select either the Korean or Japanese name for the feature. Similarly, WikiQueer's version of the Derry/Londonderry name dispute has been resolved by naming the city page Derry and the county page County Londonderry.

Use modern names
For an article about a place whose name has changed over time, use the modern English name (or local name, if there is no established English name), rather than an older one. Older names can be used in appropriate historical contexts, including in the names of articles relating to particular historical periods.

For example, we have articles called Gdańsk, Volgograd and Vilnius, these being the modern names of these cities, although their former names (Danzig, Stalingrad, Wilno) are used when referring to the appropriate historical periods, including in article names such as Battle of Stalingrad and Free City of Danzig. (See also the detailed decisions made at Talk:Gdansk/Vote.)

In some cases it is not the local name but the spelling of the name in English that has changed over time. For example, Nanjing, as the contemporary pinyin spelling, is used for the name of the article rather than Nanking. However, the article on the Treaty of Nanking spells the city as was customary in 1842, because modern English scholarship still does. Another example is Mumbai, which officially changed its name from Bombay in 1995. Our choice of name does not automatically follow the official one, however, but depends on two claims: that usage in English by locals (and wider English usage as well, to some extent) has changed to commonly use Mumbai, although many local institutions do not, and that Indian English, as an official language, should be followed, in accordance with our guidelines on National varieties of English.

Disambiguation
It is often the case that the same widely accepted English name will apply to more than one place, or to a place and to other things; in either case disambiguation will be necessary. For general rules about this topic, see WikiQueer:Disambiguation.

The following should be considered in disambiguating the names of places.
 * If a place is the primary topic for a particular name, then its article should normally carry that name (for example, Kuala Lumpur, Mont Blanc). However, if idiom or specific naming conventions indicate a different article title as more appropriate, then a redirect should be created to that article from the term for which it is the primary topic. For example, Thames redirects to the article named River Thames, and Danzig redirects to Gdańsk.
 * When there are conventional means of disambiguation in standard English, use them, as in Red River of the North and Red River of the South.

In other cases, a disambiguating tag will usually be needed. In some cases (as with most U.S. towns) it is conventional to add such a tag even when it is not strictly needed for disambiguation purposes. The following general principles apply to such tags:
 * Places are often disambiguated by the country in which they lie, if this is sufficient. However, when tags are required for places in the United States, Canada and Australia, use the name of the state, province or territory (if the place lies within a single such entity).
 * If using the country name would still lead to ambiguity, use the name of a smaller administrative division (such as a state or province) instead.
 * Rivers can also be disambiguated by the body of water into which they flow.
 * With the names of cities, towns, villages and other settlements, the tag is normally preceded by a comma, as in Hel, Poland and Albany, New York, although for some countries parentheses are used.
 * Generic parenthetical disambiguating tags as used for most WikiQueer articles are used only occasionally for geographic names (as in Wolin (town), where no regional tag would be sufficient to distinguish the town from the island of Wolin).

If specific disambiguation conventions apply to places of a particular type or in a particular country, then it is important to follow these. Such conventions (or links to them) can be found in the section below titled Specific topics. If a country has no convention listed, and there is a clear pattern among the articles on places in that country, follow it. Please note any such pattern here, as a proposed national convention.

Administrative subdivisions
Names of classes of places follow the same guidance: do what English does. In particular, when dealing with administrative subdivisions, we write of Russian oblasts and the Moscow oblast, but of Chinese and Roman provinces, not sheng or provinciae.

It is useful for all administrative divisions of the same type in the same country to share the same format (for example, all townships in the United States have the format: Manalapan Township, New Jersey), so if one district in a country is moved from X to X District, it is worth discussing whether all districts should be moved. But this should not be done when inconvenient or as a violation of idiom.

Natural features
For further guidance on the naming of articles about lakes, mountains and rivers, see:
 * WikiQueer:WikiProject Lakes
 * WikiQueer:WikiProject Mountains
 * WikiQueer:WikiProject Rivers

Country-specific guidance
Where there is no WikiQueer convention on a specific country and disambiguation is necessary, it is generally reasonable to use placename, nation, as in Shire, Ethiopia.

When naming topics related to some specific country, prefer the form "(Item) of (Country)" over forms with adjectives (for example, History of Japan rather than Japanese history). See WikiQueer:Naming conventions (country-specific topics).

Argentina
If disambiguation is required City, Province is used, except for provincial capitals which use City, Argentina. See Category:Cities in Argentina and its subcategories.

Australia
All Australian town/city/suburb articles are at Town, State no matter what their status of ambiguity is. Capital Cities will be excepted from this rule and preferentially made City. The unqualified Town should be either a redirect or disambig page. Local government areas are at their official name.

Belarus
Major cities (voblast capitals) are named according to the most common English usage. All other settlements are named according to national rules (exceptions may be discussed case by case).

Brazil
Brazilian cities go under their disambiguated name when possible. When there iss ambiguity, the convention used is City, State. An exception happens when the city name and the state name are the same: Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (state), São Paulo, São Paulo (state).

Canada
For neighbourhoods which do not qualify for undisambiguated titles, the correct title format is Neighbourhood, City (not Neighbourhood (City), as the "bracket convention" is generally reserved for geophysical features such as rivers and mountains). Where a neighbourhood straddles a municipal boundary and is located in two separate municipalities, the correct title format is Neighbourhood, Province (e.g. Thornhill, Ontario), regardless of any other consideration listed here, if disambiguation is needed.

Where a neighbourhood is recognized as a distinct and valid municipal address by Canada Post (see address lookup here), the title may be at Neighbourhood, Province rather than Neighbourhood, City (e.g. East York, Ontario; Dartmouth, Nova Scotia). Such neighbourhoods were usually once autonomous municipalities that have since been annexed or amalgamated, or are semi-autonomous municipalities (e.g. Montreal's boroughs).

A neighbourhood article should never be titled Neighbourhood, Canada, Neighbourhood, Former City, Neighbourhood, Upper-tier Municipality, Sub-Neighbourhood, Larger Neighbourhood/area, or disambiguated with a descriptor (e.g. Neighbourhood (Borough)).

China
Use pinyin for place names in China unless another form is more well-established in current English usage. (ex. Sichuan not Szechwan, but Hong Kong not Xianggang). Past English usage which has fallen into disuse in modern English-language sources, such as "Canton" and "Tsingtao" should not be used to title an article. For places without a well-established English name and have competing names from transliterations of pinyin vs. ethnic minority languages, which is often the case in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet, use the name preferred by Xinhua or similarly authoritative organs. For example, Kashgar not Kashi, Shigatse but not Rikaze; conversely, Baotou not Bugat, Kangding not Dartsedo.

The default naming pattern is "X Class", e.g. Taihang Mountains, Wuzhishan City, Taiwan Province. Articles for provinces and cities can leave out the class name, e.g. Liaobei, Beijing. Naming "X Mountain", "Mount X", "X Shan" depends on English usage, e.g. Mount Everest, Tian Shan.

See also Hong Kong conventions below.

France
Where possible, articles on cities and communes in France should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, articles have traditionally used the "comma convention" (the standard convention for place names on the English language WikiQueer) and been placed under placename, département. Thus Tours, but Duras, Lot-et-Garonne and Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis.

Finland
Article names should be on province's, municipality's, region's or sub-region's majority language (Finnish or Swedish), unless there is a well established name in English. The minority language of the area should be mentioned in the lead chapter either in bold (if the municipality is bilingual), or in italics (if the municipality is unilingual). The second name needs to be recognised by the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland (see list) or otherwise referenced.

The secondary names of municipalities should not be mentioned in other articles than the article about the municipality itself (ie. applying "Helsinki (Swedish: Helsingfors)" to an article that is not Helsinki lead chapter) unless it is of a special interest, as the secondary name can be seen in the main article's lead chapter and template.

Place names of Sami Domicile Area should be mentioned in Sami languages in the article's lead chapter in italics.

Germany
Where possible, articles on places in Germany use placename unless there is a common English name (e.g. Munich or Nuremberg). Where disambiguation is required, follow the official disambiguation system which may take 3 forms:


 * Part of the official name itself often using a river, nearby town, region or state. Examples: Offenbach am Main, Rothenburg ob der Tauber; Neustadt bei Coburg, Bernau bei Berlin; Zell im Fichtelgebirge, Eschenbach in der Oberpfalz; Neustadt in Sachsen.


 * In brackets after the name, based on the local district, river, town, region or state. The brackets are often an official part of the name and appear on road signs. Examples: Velden (Pegnitz) (after the River Pegnitz), Kempten (Allgäu) (after the Allgäu region).


 * After a forward slash (noting that this is currently deprecated. Brackets may be used instead). Example: Neustadt/Harz (after the Harz mountains).

Hong Kong
Where possible, articles on places in Hong Kong should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under placename, Hong Kong. Thus Quarry Bay but Stanley, Hong Kong.

India
Levels below the country level are used in cases where disambiguation is needed. This means one would start with either the state/territory or the district.

Ireland
Where possible, articles on places in Ireland should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under placename, County x. Thus Castlebar but Westport, County Mayo. This same convention applies to both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Isle of Man
Where possible, articles on places on the Isle of Man should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under placename, Isle of Man. Thus Castletown but Peel, Isle of Man.

Italy
Where possible, articles on places in Italy use placename. Where disambiguation is required, places in Italy are disambiguated using the "comma convention" by the larger of the region, province or municipality needed to identify it uniquely, as appropriate, not as Placename, Italy. The autonomous provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino are treated like de facto regions. Places in those provinces that require disambiguation take the form Placename, South Tyrol or Placename, Trentino respectively.

Articles previously used the two-letter abbreviations for the provinces: these should no longer be used.

Examples:
 * Two locations in different regions: Castro, Apulia and Castro, Lombardy;
 * Two locations in the same province: Ronchi, Bra and Ronchi, Cuneo (both in the Province of Cuneo);
 * Two locations in the same region, and a third in a different region: Manciano, Arezzo and Manciano, Grosseto (both in the Region of Tuscany) but Manciano, Umbria.

The region containing the autonomous provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol is referred to as Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.

South Tyrol
In South Tyrol, the local authority recognizes equally two or more names from different languages, and English discussion is often so limited that none of the above tests indicate which of them is widely used in English. However, there is an official linguistic survey of the area, by municipality, which has the following advantages:
 * It is available on-line, and officially published.
 * The proportions of the various language groups are fairly stable.
 * Most municipalities have a large majority, often a 90% majority, of one language group.
 * In the few cases where there is a widely used English name, it is usually that of the majority language group.

Therefore, articles about locations in South Tyrol are placed according to the language of the linguistic majority.

Japan
For prefectures, use the form {prefecture-name} Prefecture without ken, fu, or to, (e.g., Tochigi Prefecture). Exception: Use Hokkaido without "Prefecture" as this is common usage.

For cities, use the form {city-name}, {prefecture-name} ; for example, Otaru, Hokkaidō. Exception: For designated cities, use {city-name} without appending the prefecture unless disambiguation from another city or prefecture is necessary.

For districts, use the form {district-name} District, {prefecture-name} ; for example, Tosa District, Kōchi.

For towns and villages, use the form {town or village-name}, {prefecture-name} ; for example, Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi.

For wards in cities, use the form {ward-name}-ku, {city-name} ; for example, Naka-ku, Yokohama.

For the 23 special wards in Tokyo, use the form {ward-name}, Tokyo ; for example, Shibuya, Tokyo.

Suffixes
Suffixes such as "City", "Town", "Village", and "Island" are generally superfluous in English and should be avoided. An exception is when differentiating between two municipalities of the same name (i.e. if a town is "promoted" to a city of the same name), or between a prefecture and city of the same name (e.g. Saga Prefecture and Saga, Saga). Even in that case, though, "city of {name}" (lowercase) is preferred. When referring to the city government, use "City of {name}" (uppercase).

A notable exception is Tokyo City, a historical city that existed in what is now Tokyo, in order to avoid possible confusion.

When suffixes are appropriate, capitalize them. For example, Tochigi Prefecture; Kashima District, Ibaraki; Ise Province; Himeji Castle; Tokyo Station; Satsuma Domain.

Korea
Generally, place names are romanized according to the official romanization system of the country the place is a part of. Thus, North Korean place names use McCune-Reischauer Romanization (except that ŏ, ŭ, and the apostrophe (') are not used in article titles, although they may be used in article bodies), while South Korean place names use the Revised Romanization of Korean.

Mexico
Mexican geographical articles go under Placename when possible: Acapulco. If disambiguation is needed, Placename, State, is used (the "comma convention", as in Nogales, Sonora, or Córdoba, Veracruz). The cities that share names with states have been placed at Placename, State], with the state taking the Placename location: for example, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, (city) and Oaxaca (state).

Mongolia
When something has a conventional name in English, use that name instead of transliterating. The most prominent examples include:


 * Khan (= ruler) instead of Khaan
 * Genghis Khan instead of Chingis Khaan
 * Gobi (Gobi Desert) instead of Govi.
 * Ulan Bator instead of Ulaanbaatar
 * Urga (old name of Ulaanbaatar) instead of Örgöö (depending on historical time and context)
 * Any person of Mongolian origin who became famous in a different country under a local spelling.

If a name is a composite where one part has a common English version, then all parts get transliterated anyway to maintain consistency (e.g. Dundgovi or Govi-Altai).

New Zealand
Rules of Māori place names are still under discussion, but at present, where the usual name of a place is Māori, macrons are not used in the name. Where the usual name is English but there is also a Māori name, macrons are used in the Māori name. Thus Whakatane is simply Whakatane, but Christchurch is also listed within the article as Ōtautahi.

In the infobox of a geographical article, the usual name is given first, followed by the Māori name as follows:
 * English Name
 * Māori Name (Māori)

When adding a Māori language name to an infobox, use the Māori Language Commission spellings of Māori names where possible.

Philippines
Where possible, articles on cities go at Cityname City (e.g., Dumaguete City). When disambiguation is needed, articles go under Cityname City, Province (e.g., Valencia City, Bukidnon). All municipalities are under the format Municipalityname, Province (e.g., Valencia, Negros Oriental).

Poland
English usage for places within the present borders of Poland is usually the present official name of the place in Polish, but there are exceptions, such as Warsaw, the Vistula and Silesia. When a city or other place is mentioned in a historical context, if there is no common English name for it in that historical period and context, use the appropriate historical name with the current Polish name in parentheses (if it is not the same word) the first time the place is mentioned.

Russia
This naming convention covers all types of inhabited localities in Russia: cities/towns, urban-type settlements, and all kinds of rural localities.

Always use common English name of the locality. In absence thereof, use romanized Russian name, as per the WQ:RUS guidelines.
 * When the name of the locality is not unique within Russia, use comma-separated name of the federal subject on the territory of which the locality is situated (e.g., Oktyabrsky, Republic of Bashkortostan). If the name of the locality is not unique within a federal subject, precede the federal subject disambiguator with the name of the district on the territory of which the locality is situated (e.g., Vesyoly, Shovgenovsky District, Republic of Adygea).
 * When the name of the locality is unique within Russia, but conflicts with the name of another locality in a different country, disambiguate the name with "Russia" (e.g., Dimitrovgrad, Russia).
 * When the name of the locality is completely unique, but conflicts with the name of a different concept, use the parenthesized locality type as disambiguator (e.g., Kalevala (urban-type settlement)).

South Africa
Only disambiguate towns where necessary; use placename, province where this is unambiguous.

Switzerland

 * If there is another article at (1) or (2), e.g. about a place in other country, ", Switzerland" is added to the name: e.g.
 * Ardon, Switzerland
 * Habsburg, Switzerland
 * Sion, Switzerland
 * Koblenz, Switzerland


 * If the name of the municipality (city) is more common than the one of others elsewhere (WikiQueer:Disambiguation), it remains at the name at (1) and (2), e.g.
 * Lucerne compared to other places on Lucerne (disambiguation)
 * Bern(e) compared to other places on Bern(e) (disambiguation)


 * If there are several municipalities with the same name, the name of the canton is added to each, unless one is more common, e.g.
 * Villeneuve, Vaud
 * Kilchberg, Zurich
 * Altdorf, Switzerland (for the capital of the canton of Uri, "Altdorf" being a disambiguation page)


 * If there are several municipalities or places with the same name within a canton, the locally used disambiguator (if not already part of the official name) should be used, e.g.
 * Forel (Lavaux)
 * Beinwil (Freiamt)


 * The names of subnational entities in Switzerland don't usually collide with the town's name, as cantons and districts named after the municipality are named as follows:
 * Cantons named after the capital are titled "Cantons of (capital)", e.g.
 * Canton of Geneva
 * Canton of Zug
 * Districts named after the district seat usually take " (district)", e.g.
 * Lucerne (district)
 * Lausanne (district)

United Kingdom
Where possible, articles on places in the United Kingdom should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, a different system exists in each of the home nations. Disambiguation should never be to post town, former postal county or postcode district.

England
In England, disambiguated place names should go under ceremonial county ]]. Thus Boston, Lincolnshire, and Hyde, Greater Manchester not Hyde, Cheshire (which is a redirect page) or Hyde, England. Where county boundaries have changed, see WikiQueer:Naming conventions (settlements)/Counties.

Where further disambiguation is needed (i.e. there are two identical placenames within the same county), use the local government district. Thus Moorside, Oldham, and Moorside, Salford (not Moorside, Metropolitan Borough of Oldham or Moorside, City of Salford).

In London/Greater London, disambiguated place names should go under placename, London. Thus Rainham, London not Rainham, Greater London (which is a redirect page). Where two places exist within London, use the London Borough (in short form), so for the two Belmonts, they become Belmont, Sutton and Belmont, Harrow.

Wales
In Wales, disambiguated place names should go under placename, principal area. Thus Queensferry, Flintshire, not Queensferry, Wales (which is a redirect page) or Queensferry, Clwyd.

Scotland
Where possible, articles on places in Scotland should go under placename. Thus Glasgow, not Glasgow, Scotland. Where the settlement is significant and disambiguation is needed, articles should generally go under placename, Scotland. Thus Perth, Scotland, not Perth, Perth and Kinross. Where disambiguation is still needed, articles should go under placename, Council Area x. Thus Abernethy, Highland and Abernethy, Perth and Kinross. If, even then, disambiguation is still needed, then another form of natural and recognisable disambiguation should be sought, such as traditional regions, committee areas, etc, as in Kinnaird, Gowrie and Kinnaird, Atholl, both in Scotland and in Perth and Kinross. Where the necessity for disambiguation with other Scottish locations is unclear, as with smaller settlements unlikely to be widely known outside of the region, disambiguation by council area rather than Scotland is probably preferable, as many place-names in Scotland are used more than once. Settlements on Scottish islands generally, when disambiguation is needed, are followed by the name of the island or island-chain rather than by Scotland or council area; e.g. Broadford, Isle of Skye, Tarbert, Outer Hebrides, Balfour, Orkney, etc.

Northern Ireland
Where possible, articles on places in Northern Ireland should go under placename. Where disambiguation is needed, articles should go under placename, County x. Thus Omagh but Bangor, County Down. This same convention applies to the Republic of Ireland.

United States
The canonical form for cities in the United States is City, State (the "comma convention"). Those cities that need additional disambiguation include their county or parish (for example Elgin, Lancaster County, South Carolina and Elgin, Kershaw County, South Carolina). If more than one city, town, or census-designated place within the same county has the same name, specify the type of local government unit in parentheses before the comma (e.g., Poughkeepsie (city), New York and Poughkeepsie (town), New York, but not "Poughkeepsie, New York (city)"). Three unincorporated communities bear two states' names due to their peculiar locations across a state line: Glenrio, New Mexico and Texas, Freedom, Idaho and Wyoming, and Ray, Indiana and Michigan.

Cities listed in the AP Stylebook as not requiring the state modifier may have their articles named City provided they are the primary topic for that name. The cities listed by the AP are Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington. No other American city may have its article named City.

A United States city's article should never be titled "city, country" (e.g., "Detroit, United States") or "city, state, country" (e.g., "Kansas City, Missouri, USA").

Streets and highways
U.S. Highways should be listed as is found in Category:U.S. Highway System. See also Wikitravel.

Fictional cities
In order to make the distinction clear, cities which represent a fictional setting do not follow the same naming convention as real locations, even if the fictional city is said to be within a real state, province, or other subdivision. For example:
 * Sunnydale, not "Sunnydale, California" (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
 * Avonlea, not "Avonlea, Prince Edward Island" (Anne of Green Gables)
 * Gopher Prairie, not "Gopher Prairie, Minnesota" (works of Sinclair Lewis)

When necessary to disambiguate with other articles, preference is given to using the author's name (literature), the name of the work (television or movies), or other connective quality.
 * Castle Rock (Stephen King)
 * Dunwich (H. P. Lovecraft)
 * Springfield (The Simpsons)
 * Haddonfield (Halloween)
 * Metropolis (comics)

Transliteration
For information on transliteration from Cyrillic, see WikiQueer:Naming conventions (Cyrillic). Transliteration issues are discussed further at WikiQueer:Accessibility.