Talk:Wladek Minor

Name - sigh
While it does appear that his American first name is 'Wladek', or at least he himself uses it and signs his academic papers with, it is almost certainly not his original Polish name and it is unclear if it is his legal name. Władek is a diminutive of Władysław. I didn't expect someone who moved to the USA in the second half of the 20th century to agree to such a bastardization of one's given name (it was common in the century prior, when the immigration officials often disrespectfully simplified names of immigrants, or just changed them to whatever they felt like spelling), although - shrug - people have the right to change their names how they see fit. Anyway, his current name may be Wladek, but I am 99% sure this wasn't the name he was given in Poland by his parents. PS. See also Wladek Zbyszko. Stage name indeed... PPS. Polish media when referring to him uses Władysław, not Wladek, which, with all due respect, simply doesn't sound serious to most Polish people. Also, he did sign at least some of his (older?) papers as Władysław (Wladyslaw...):. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 11:23, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Response: I am really unsure of this change. I think his passport says "Wladyslaw". Being named "Wladek" was his choice. Moreover, I perceive this as his signature style: he always asked to be called Wladek. Many people started referring to him as "Dr. Minor", or "Professor Minor", but he often asked - please call me Wladek. I don't know exactly why he did it, but I suspect this was one of his ways of being approachable. To me, it meant that "in my lab, there are no professors, ranks, and titles, we are all people here, everybody should have their voice, and I prefer everyone to forgo all official hierarchies in the interest of free communication". He is very well known in the scientific world exactly by his name "Wladek". I think most people (except Polish and a few others) would not even know that his passport name is Wladyslaw. Shabalinig (talk) 14:43, 30 April 2021 (UTC)
 * , I think the relevant policy is WP:COMMONNAME, and therefore as you suggest, Wladek should be retained, with Władysław being a redirect (I created it). Our article should state both names in the lead. As for the body, I would suggest using 'Władysław' for his early life (in Poland), then I guess we can use his preferred nickname 'Wladek'. It is clearly his choice, and he doesn't find the name objectionable, but from the Polish perspective, it is very unusual. I think this is because diminutives in Poland, unlike in English, are more private/childish and are never used in public (which is why most modern Polish sources use Władysław, interestingly, I found this English source from his Polish co-workers using Wladek: ). If you are familiar with Japanese, it's like the chan-suffix. No professor in Poland would use a diminutive for his name, just like I don't think anyone in Japan would use -chan in professional setting. But in English we have quite a few people who chose to use Bobby, Johnny or such. My point was that his name sounds 'strange' to Polish person (not the name variant they'd expect to see on Wikipedia), and from the experienced Wikipedian perspective, I at first thought this was a mistake - I have occasionally see people not familiar with Polish language adding misspelled names (diminuatives, latinizations, simple commissions of Polish diacritics, etc). This seems to be a rare exception to the 'it's a simple mistake' case. Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 03:02, 1 May 2021 (UTC)


 * , Thank you very much for the thinking and the explanation. I agree fully with your assessment. Indeed, names in English (especially American English) are very flexible in the way how people use them. Maybe, it is partially due to multiculturalism. In the contrast, I got a feeling that in Poland people are very specific in how they refer to each other (e.g., "Pane Profesore" - forgive my transliteration). Please implement relevant changes, if any left to be implemented. Thanks again. Shabalinig (talk) 04:35, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
 * , I think the article is mostly fine, as long as both the names are mentioned in it and redirects are created (which is now the case). Thank you for writing it up, and I hope you'll stick around and help improve other topics! Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 05:19, 1 May 2021 (UTC)