Talk:Gaafu Alifu Atoll

Reopening can of worms
As it has often been stated, each administrative division of the Maldvies has an official name, usually that of the main geographic/natural atoll within that administrative division. The names of the characters of the Thaana abugida assigned to each administrative division is merely a code, not a replacement of the official name of the administrative division. As such, the name of pages for the administrative regions of the Maldives in Wikipedia should bear these names, rather than the codes.

However, recognising that the Thaana character codes are now often used, I would like to propose a compromise of the naming convention for the pages incorporating both the official/traditional name and the Thaana character code to become the title names of pages of the administrative divisions of the Maldives.

Here are the proposed new names for administrative division articles, and the components for the template. The names and spelling conventions follow official Madivian government website (eg National Bureau of Statistics) for the atoll names and also the name of letters for the Thaana alphabet which are used as administrative division code names.

From north to south they are:
 * North Thiladhunmathi (Haa Alifu) Atoll to replace the Haa Alif Atoll page
 * South Thiladhunmathi (Haa Dhaalu) Atoll to replace the Haa Dhaalu Atoll page etc
 * North Miladhunmadulu (Shaviyani) Atoll to replace Shaviyani Atoll page
 * South Miladhunmadulu (Noonu) Atoll to replace Noonu Atoll page
 * North Maalhosmadulu (Raa) Atoll to replace Raa Atoll page
 * South Maalhosmadulu (Baa) Atoll to replace Baa Atoll and Southern Maalhosmadulhu Atoll pages`
 * Faadhippolhu (Lhaviyani) Atoll
 * Malé (Kaafu) Atoll to replace the Kaafu Atoll and the Malé Atoll pages
 * Malé City
 * North Ari (Alifu Alifu) Atoll to replace Alif Alif Atoll page
 * South Ari (Alifu Dhaalu) Atoll to replace Alif Dhaal page
 * Felidhu (Vaavu) Atoll to replace Vaavu Atoll page
 * Mulaku (Meemu) Atoll to replace Meemu Atoll page
 * North Nilandhe (Faafu) Atoll to replace Faafu Atoll page
 * South Nilandhe (Dhaalu) Atoll to replace Dhaalu Atoll page
 * Kolhumadulu (Thaa) Atoll to replace the Kolhumadulu Atoll and Thaa Atoll page
 * Hadhdhunmathi (Laamu) Atoll to replace Laamu Atoll page
 * North Huvadhu (Gaafu Alifu) Atoll to replace Gaafu Alif Atoll page, but retain Huvadhoo Atoll page
 * South Huvadhu (Gaafu Dhaalu) Atoll to replace Gaafu Dhaal Atoll page, but retain Huvadhoo Atoll page
 * Fuvahmulah (Gnaviyani) Atoll
 * Addu City, Addu Atoll and Seenu Atoll to be redirected here, as subsets elements of this page

Open for other suggestions. Slleong (talk) 05:21, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

"Alif" typo in article title?
Seems to me like the article's title should be "Gaafu Alifu Atoll" instead of "Gaafu Alif Atoll". Alif seems to be a typo, since this spelling isn't supported by any sources I could find online. Thoughts? TimSmit (talk) 18:35, 1 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Some rationale behind why I renamed "Alif" to "Alifu" in the page title:
 * to match more closely to proposed name from the above section, which is "North Huvadhu (Gaafu Alifu) Atoll"
 * to match the lead section
 * to match the infobox
 * to match the first 3 results from an online search for either spelling (Google Maps, Booking.com, and Expedia)
 * TimSmit (talk) 03:18, 7 December 2021 (UTC)