Wikipedia:Categorization/Naming

For the full category naming guidelines (including topic-specific naming conventions), seeWikipedia:Category names.

When naming a category, one should be particularly careful and choose its name accurately. Moving non-conventionally categorized pages to another category name (see{{Category redirect}}) imposes an additional overhead – an edit foreacharticle and subcategory. Also, try to avoid names that are too long or too short. Short, straight-forward names, are preferred for categories, though it may be necessary at times to deviate from this principle forclarityordisambiguation.

General conventions

• Names oftopic categoriesshould be singular, normally corresponding to the name of a Wikipedia article. Examples: "Law","France","Hillary Clinton".
• Names ofset categoriesshould be plural. Examples: "Writers","Villages in Poland".
• Note that in many instances a topic category and a set category have similar names, the topic category being singular and the set category plural. For example,Operais a topic category (containing all articles relating to the topic), whileOperasis a set category (containing articles about specific operas). Be careful to choose the right one when categorizing articles.
• Do not writethe category structurein names. Example: "Monarchs",not" People – Monarchs ". This includes creating categories that are subpages of other categories.
• Choose category names that can stand alone, independent of the way a category is connected to other categories. Example: "Geography terminology stubs",not" Terminology "(a subcategory of"Geography stubs").

Categories for articles

• Standard articlenaming conventionsapply; in particular, usesentence case,do not usetitle case.Specifically, do notcapitalizeregular nouns except when they come at the beginning of the category name.
• When naming, use words and phrases which exist inverifiablereliable sources(particularly fortechnical subjects), so that those sources may be used to support inclusion of information.
• Avoidabbreviations.Example: "Category:Military equipment of World War II",not" Category:Military equipment of WW2 ". However,acronymsthat have become the official, or generally used, name (such asNATO) should be used where there are no other conflicts. Exceptions to this should be explained in thecategory description.
• Avoidsubjective adjectivessuch asfamous,large,orbeautifulin category titles.
• When a topic requiresdisambiguation,any category eponymously named for that topic should include the same form of disambiguation, even if no other articles are likely to have aneponymous category.
• If there are more than a fewlistsin a particular subject area, it may be appropriate to create a specific subcategory that contains only the list pages and no other types.
  • As an exampleCategory:Countriescontains the subcategory "Category:Lists of countries",which in turn contains the list pages"List of Soviet Republics",and"List of countries by population".
  • When placing list pages in such a category, use asort keyto adjust the page title to exclude the starting words "List of", or all lists would appear under "L". For example, when adding List of Soviet Republics to the category, using[[Category:Lists of countries|Soviet Republics]]and will make it be sorted in the S section. See alsoCategory:Lists.
• Naming guidelines for sub-categories ofCategory:Stub categoriesare listed atWikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Naming guidelines § Categories.

Project categories

• Categories used for Wikipedia administration,are disambiguated byprependingwith the word "Wikipedia" (no colon) if this is needed to prevent confusion with content categories. For example,Category:Inactive project pages(where no confusion is likely), butCategory:Wikipedia tools(as distinct from the content categoryTools).
• AllWikiProjectcategories should have "WikiProject" (or "WikiProjects" ) as part of the name. Note that this does not apply to the names of categories that projects might create for the use of assessments. In these cases, the advice given inProject Categories,which conforms toCategory:Wikipedia 1.0 assessmentsis advised, though not mandatory.
• For geographicalphoto requests,the category name should be "Wikipedia requested photographs in xxx" as in [[Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in England]]; seeCategory:Wikipedia requested photographs by location.
• For categorization in userspace, seeWikipedia:Categorization § User namespaceandWikipedia:User categories § Naming conventions.