Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 22:58, 9 June 2011

The status of this page as a policy or guideline is the subject of a current discussion. Please feel free to join in. This doesn't mean that you may not be bold in editing this page, but that it would be a good idea to check the discussion first.

This guideline documents an English Misplaced Pages 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 this guideline's talk page.

Shortcuts WP:ROR WP:RUS

The following system of romanization of Russian from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet is currently endorsed by the Misplaced Pages naming conventions policy.

Use conventional names

When possible, use a conventional English name (as defined below) instead of the default romanization.

Place names

A conventional name of a place is the name listed in major English dictionaries and should be preferred over default romanization at all times.

Clarifications

1. The variant produced using the systematic romanization must be mentioned in the lead in parentheses after listing the Russian name.

   Example: Moscow (Template:Lang-ru, Moskva)...

2. The variant produced using systematic romanization must be a redirect to the main article.

   Example: Sankt-Peterburg redirects to Saint Petersburg.

3. If such a redirect cannot be set up due to a collision of meanings, a disambiguation page entry should be created instead, pursuant to the Manual of Style for disambiguation pages.

   Example: Moskva cannot be a redirect to Moscow, but a link to "Moscow" is available at the "Moskva" disambiguation page.

4. Titles of disambiguation and name pages are always romanized using the default romanization.

   Example: the disambiguation page listing all the meanings of "Байкал" is to be located at Baykal (disambiguation), despite the fact that the most common English spelling of the primary meaning of the word (a lake in Russia) is "Baikal".

People

A person's conventional name is defined by the criteria outlined below. When spelling is selected based on one of these criteria, it must be documented on the article's talk page or be readily apparent from the sources used in the article.

1. If the person is an author of works published in English, the spelling of the name used in such publications should be used, unless he is more notable in other contexts. When multiple spellings are used and no single spelling clearly predominates, use the one closest to the default romanization guidelines.
2. If the person is the subject of English-language publications, the spelling predominantly used in such publications should be used. A preference is given to publications in the area in which the person specializes. When no single spelling predominates, use the one closest to the default romanization guidelines.

   Example: the article on figure skater Александр Геннадиевич Зайцев is located at Alexander Gennadiyevich Zaitsev (not "Zaytsev"), because "Zaitsev" is the English spelling used by the International Skating Union, Figure Skating Federation of Russia, and in other publications about the person (ref).

3. Selecting the most frequently used variant based on a search engine test is not sufficient, although it fwn be strongly indicative.
4. When in doubt, use the default romanization guidelines.
5. The default romanization variant must be mentioned in the lead in parentheses after listing the Russian name.

   Example: Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Template:Lang-ru, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov)...

6. The default romanization variant must be a redirect to the main article.

   Example: Nikita Khrushchyov redirects to Nikita Khrushchev.

7. If such a redirect cannot be set up due to a collision of meanings, a disambiguation or name page entry should be created instead, pursuant to the Manual of Style for disambiguation pages.
8. Titles of disambiguation and name pages are normally romanized using the default romanization;

   Example: the name page listing people with the last name of "Зайцев" is to be located at Zaytsev, despite the fact that names of some people listed on the page are romanized differently (e.g., Alexander Gennadiyevich Zaitsev).

   But if there were a separate page disambiguating other pages called Leo Tolstoy, it would be Leo Tolstoy (disambiguation). Such cases will be quite rare.

   Rationale: simplification of maintenance of disambiguation and name pages; consistency.

Clarifications

• It is important to remember that only the spelling of names used in the English-language sources should be considered. If a Russian person is widely known, for example, in France but virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, the title of the article about him/her should be romanized using the default romanization; French spelling should not be used.
  • French spelling can, however, be used if the person became a citizen of France and that spelling matches the person's official name.
• Same condition applies to the personal choice of spelling—it should only be used when the person in question has a clear and documentable preference for the English spelling of his/her name.
• In absence of documentation supporting one of the criteria of conventionality, articles can be moved to the spelling produced using the default romanization guidelines. Editors performing such moves are encouraged to leave a notice on the articles' talk pages soliciting documentation/sources and allowing a reasonable amount of time to get a response.

Default romanization rules

The following table describes a method to derive romanization of Russian names into the Latin alphabet, used in English Misplaced Pages and suitable for Anglophones.

It is a modification of the BGN/PCGN romanization system. The modifications include the following rules:

• ё becomes yo;
• hard sign (ъ) is omitted;
• soft sign (ь) is omitted, except before a non-iotated vowel (а, э, ы, и, о, у), where it becomes y;
• -ый endings become -y;
• -ий endings in adjectives of Russian origin can optionally be changed from -iy to -y.

Notes

Abbreviations are usually romanized with capitalization as indicated, e.g., ДШК = DShK.

Default romanization table

See also

• Romanization of Russian
• Misplaced Pages:IPA for Russian
• Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (Cyrillic)

• Misplaced Pages naming conventions