Talk:Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

Move to Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: page moved.  Ron h jones (Talk) 22:24, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Mary of Austria (1528–1603) → Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress — User:Gryffindor was wrong when he moved the article saying that Mary of Austria (1528–1603) was the "original name of article". The article was never titled Mary of Austria (1528–1603). Its "original name" is Maria of Spain. But there are more important reasons for moving the article back.

First of all, she is commonly called Maria of Austria. Unlike her aunt, the Empress is very rarely called Mary of Austria.

Secondly, we have agreed many times that a marital title is a better way of disambiguation than years of birth and death. How on Earth do years of birth and death help anyone understand who the person was? When browsing Category:Archduchesses of Austria, what title would help us understand who this person was: Mary of Austria (1528–1603) or Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress? Is she better known as a woman who was born in 1528 or as a woman who was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire and highest-ranking lady in Europe?

Last but not least, the convention does not prohibit using marital titles for disambiguation so moves like these cannot be justified by the convention. Surtsicna (talk) 12:29, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Support I think in the past there was a convention that we use maiden titles and an aversion to using royal women's married titles, but we are moving away from this. These double titles may look clumsy, but in some cases they may actually be the least awkward way of disambiguating some people, particularly if they had common names like Maria. Dates are a last resort for disambiguation. PatGallacher (talk) 17:41, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.