Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Ireland-related articles) 

This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. Editors should follow it, except where common sense and the occasional exception will improve an article. Before editing this page, please make sure that your revision reflects consensus.
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These guidelines deal with the naming of Ireland-related articles. This includes both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Please follow the conventions below. If you disagree with any of the conventions, please discuss in the talk page.

To write and edit Ireland-related articles, please follow the conventions below. Note

Contents

Geographic articles

Naming articles: English versus Irish

  1. Where the English and Irish names are the same or very nearly the same, but the English and Irish spellings differ, use the English spelling.
  2. Where the English and Irish names are different, and the English name remains the predominant usage in English, use the English name.
  3. Where the English and Irish names are different, and the Irish name is the official name, but has not yet gained favour in English usage, use the English name.
  4. Where the English and Irish names are different, and the Irish name is the official name, and has gained favour in English usage, use the official Irish name.

Irish names in content

Once the article name is established, any alternate name for the locale should be provided on the first line of the article (whether or not the name is widely used), as well as the proper location in the information box. The remainder of the article should use only the place name as titled in the article.

The exception to this is when a portion of the article is providing information specific to the naming of the place.

When mentioning other locales in the context of the article, conform to the rules for article titling above but do not include the alternate name along with it. An exception might be in the case of a name that is unlikely to be provided an article of its own. However, if a place name is significant enough to warrant both an English and an Irish name, it is probably significant enough for an article of its own, however brief.

Derry / Londonderry

To avoid constant renaming of articles (and more), keep a neutral point of view, promote consistency in the encyclopedia, and avoid Stroke City-style terms perplexing to those unfamiliar with the dispute, a compromise solution was proposed and accepted by many usersclarification needed regarding the Derry/Londonderry name dispute. Use Derry for the city and County Londonderry for the county in articles. The naming dispute can be discussed in the articles when appropriate.

Use of 'Republic of Ireland' and 'Ireland' for the Irish state

Currently Irish articles display a number of different approaches to denote national identity. Concerns have been expressed that using the word 'Ireland' alone can mislead, given that it refers to both the Irish state, and the whole island (which contains Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom).

The main variations currently found on Wikipedia are:

Please follow consensus in the article's talk page.

Note, discussion of the above is at the IMOS subpage, Irish disambiguation taskforce.

Disambiguation of place names

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (settlements)

Biographical articles

People born before independence in 1922 have their birthplace referred to as just Ireland, not Northern Ireland or [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Ireland]] or [[Northern Ireland|Ireland]]. Neither are they described as Northern Irish.

Correct Irish orthography in naming people

  1. If someone used the Irish version of his or her name, and this enjoyed and enjoys widespread usage among English speakers, this should be reflected in Wikipedia. Thus, we refer to Máirtín Ó Cadhain, not "Martin Kyne"; Tomás Ó Fiaich, not "Thomas Fee", etc.
  2. In cases where someone used the Irish version of his or her name but this does not enjoy widespread usage among English speakers, then use the English version when naming the article but refer to the Irish version of the name in the first line. For example, Geoffrey Keating was Irish-speaking and probably never used that name himself. He is listed under Geoffrey Keating but the first sentence reads "Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was ...".
  3. When giving the Irish version of the name of a person who is normally referred to by an English-language name, a source can only be considered reliable if it provides an Irish version explicitly for that individual. It is not acceptable to cite a generic English-Irish dictionary of names to translate the person's forename(s) and/or surname(s) and present this combination as the person's name in Irish.
  4. If someone did not use the Irish version of his or her name, it is not appropriate or encyclopaedic for Wikipedians to "invent" such names, as this constitutes original research.
  5. In Irish orthography, there is a space between Mac and the rest of the surname, e.g. Seán Mac Eoin, Seán Mac Stíofáin etc. In English orthography, there is no space between the Mc or Mac and the rest of the surname.
  6. In Irish orthography, note that the Ó in surnames always takes an accent and is followed by a space, e.g. Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, not Tomas Cardinal O'Fiaich, etc.
  7. In Irish surnames "Mac" (Son of) and "Ó" (Of the family of) are only used for men. Use these for the English forms of women's names but use the appropriate Irish forms "Ní/Nic" (daughter of), "Mhic" ([wife] of the son of), or "Uí" (of the family of) in Irish spellings of women's surnames.
  8. In alphabetised lists of Irish names in the English Wikipedia follow English convention and group all 'Mac's together rather than following the Irish convention (where they ignore the Mac, Ó prefixes and alphabetise by the first letter of the suffix); follow this practice even for names in Irish.
  9. When transcribing from old(er) Irish texts which contain lenited letters (the dot above indicating séimhiú), please reflect modern usage by replacing the dot with an 'h'. Thus, Aeḋ or Aoḋ becomes Aedh or Aodh, Doṁnall becomes Domhnall, Ruaiḋri becomes Ruaidhrí, etc.
  10. The síneadh fada (or acute accent) should be used when Irish spelling requires it; thus "Mary Robinson (Máire Mhic Róibín)", not "Mary Robinson (Maire Mhic Roibin)".

Other articles

  1. When the English version of a name is more common and recognised by English speakers (than the corresponding Irish name), prefer that English name for the article name, but mention the Irish name, if it exists (same as dealing with geographical names, as described above).
  2. Conversely, when the Irish version of a name is more common and recognised by English speakers, prefer the Irish name for the article name, and mention any English name in the body of the article: