Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plurals)

For the use of plurals vs. singulars in articles, seeWikipedia:Manual of Style § Plurals.

In general,Wikipedia articleshavesingular titles;for example, our article on theCanis familiarisspecies is atDog,notDogs.This rule exists to promoteconsistencyin our article titles, and generally leads to slightly moreconcisetitles as well.

Exceptions exist for two general types of articles.

Exceptions

There are two main types of exceptions to this rule:

• Articles on groups orclassesof specific things. Some examples:
  • Articles on groups ofadministrative divisions(states or provinces), such asStates of Austria,States of Nigeria,Provinces of Sweden.
  • Articles on groups of distinct entities that are nevertheless often considered together (preceded almost invariably by the word "the" ), such as theFlorida Keys,theAmericas,or theRivers of New Zealand.
  • Things likeMaxwell's equations,Legendre polynomials,Chebyshev polynomials,[the]Cauchy–Riemann equations,etc. The topic is naturally thesetorfamilyof equations, although in some contexts they may be referred to in the singular. (That is, such a polynomial—for example—is of interest only because it is part of thepolynomial sequencecalled theChebyshev polynomials,and the sequence is thought of for most purposes as a unit.) Similarly, one is much more likely to mentionArabic numeralsthan a particular Arabic numeral.
  • Articles on particular language groups, as opposed to individual languages, are pluralized, such asRomance languages,Afroasiatic languages,Indigenous languages of the Americas,Sino-Tibetan languages.
  • Things likeSkew coordinates.Although one may speak of the second skew coordinate of a point, the article is on thesystemof coordinates.
  • Articles that actually distinguish among multiple distinct instances of related items can be sensibly given a plural title when the alternative would be to create an inappropriately large number of short articles, one on each instance. The variousZeno's paradoxes,for instance, are incorporated into one article, with a correspondingly plural name.
  • Articles on religious, national, orethnic groupingsof people.Hindus,French people,andKoreans in Japanare all acceptable titles. Titles likeBelgianshould be recast in the plural, i.e.,Belgians.If apluraltitle without the word "people" is available, it is almost invariably chosen; e.g.,Bangladeshisis consistently preferred toBangladeshi people.
  • List articles use a plural after "List of", e.g.,List of common misconceptions.For a list of lists, the title should just be the plural "Lists of...", e.g.,Lists of books.SeeWikipedia:Lists.
• Cases where the titleexists only in the plural.
  • Articles on items such asscissorsorhandcuffsare not located at awkward, unnatural titles likescissororhandcuff.
  • Band names and the names of sports teams such asThe Beatlesor theSeattle Seahawksshould be at their plural title.
  • Articles about measurement units, including compound units, should generally be singular (so "Foot per second"rather than"Feet per second"). For measurement units formed by combining an object or event with a unit ("Lines per inch"or"Flashes per minute"), the plural form may be acceptable if overwhelmingly favored indefinitions of the unitby reliable sources.
  • With irregular plurals whose usage far exceeds the usage of the singular, thecommonandunastonishingplural titlesBacteria,Algae,andDataare preferred overBacterium,Alga,andDatum(although some would argue thatdatais amass nounand, as such, is already singular).

In rare circumstances, weignore the ruleshere in order to make the encyclopedia better.

These rules apply only toarticles.Categoriesare almost always given plural titles, and manytemplatesare as well.

Primary topic

See also:WP:DIFFCAPS

Because most articles (likeChair) have singular titles, the normal situation is that a plural redirects to its singular, or towherever its singular redirects.For instance,Chairsis aredirect page,which takes readers directly toChair;Pandaredirects toGiant panda,and thus so doesPandas.For the rare articles that have plural titles, likeSeattle Seahawks,there should normally be a redirect from the singular form (Seattle Seahawk). Such redirects can bear their respective templates, as well:{{R from plural}}or{{R to plural}}.

Sometimes, however, a plural form will establish a separateprimary topic.Windowsdoes not redirect toWindow,but rather toMicrosoft Windows;Snickersis about the chocolate bar, whileSnickerredirects toLaughter.It may also be the case that a singular form (Axe) has a primary topic, while a plural form (Axes,which is the plural of both Axe and Axis) does not, or vice versa (Androidis a disambiguation page, butAndroidsredirects toAndroid (robot)).

Discussion andconsensusamong editors, possibly through arequested move,determines if there is or is not a primary topic. For instance, discussion and consensus might determine thatCarsshould redirect toCar(as it currently does), redirect toCar (disambiguation),or host a topic such asCars (film).

In making such a determination:

• A plural form is treated like any other topic.
• The relationship between a singular and its plural is important, but not the only consideration. Because readers and editors are used to seeing titles at the singular form, and can be expected to search for them/link to them in the singular form, the intentional use of a plural form by a reader or editor can be evidence that a separate primary topic exists at the plural form. At the same time, readers and editors are used to the fact that plural forms usually redirect to their equivalent singulars and thus are likely to expect to be redirected to a singular title when looking for something else.
• Since normally users can be expected to search/link for/to topics using the singular form, searching/linking with a plural form is likely to be for a topic named with the plural form, when applicable. Example:Queens,the New York City borough, is the primary topic for the plural form of "queen". At the same time, since readers and editors expect plural redirects,Parachutesis aWP:PRIMARYREDIRECTto thedevicerather than being about theColdplay album.
• If the singular is not usually treated as acountable noun,that makes it far more likely that a split is the best decision. For example,timeis a straightforward and obvious primary topic, but usually we don't treat "time" as something with a plural. Accordingly,timesdoes not redirect totime,but rather to a different topic (in this caseTime (disambiguation)).
• A plural of a countable noun should never be treated as a partial title match when determining primary topic.
• Encyclopedicuses are given more weight thandictionaryuses, perWP:NOTADICTIONARY.This may mean that if there is not an article at the singular form, it is more likely that a plural form can establish a separate primary topic.
• Just as with any other title, a plural base title can direct to an article (Snickers), or to a disambiguation page (Suns). A plural base title can also redirect to an article (Bookendsredirects toBookend;Facesredirects toFace).
• If separate primary topics are determined, add ahatnotefrom the plural page to the singular form (or vice versa).
• Sometimes, what appears to be a plural form may also be a separate word, which can influence the primary topic decision. (Wallscan be the plural of "wall", but can also be a separate placename or surname.)
• Sometimes, even when a singular might be ambiguous and lead to a disambiguation page, a plural might be (relatively) unambiguous and lead to a particular singular use;Orangesleads toOrange (fruit),not to the disambiguation page atOrange.This is primarily because only a noun can be pluralized, and the only other "orange" whose notability rivals that of the fruit is the color, and even though technically an interior designercouldtalk about choosing among several different oranges for the color of the curtains, usually only the fruit is pluralized in common usage.The reverse can also be true, and often is:Paperis a stable primary topic, butpapersis highly ambiguous (since "paper" is typically anuncountable noun), and accordingly redirects topaper (disambiguation).
• Using a plural as a separate primary topic is not specifically encouraged or discouraged; this page only describes the conditions where it is appropriate to do so.
• All of these apply to the reverse situation as well (Scissorredirects toScissors;Tropicredirects toTropics).