Wikipedia:Naming conventions (places in Bangladesh)

This guideline is derived from WP:PLACE to explain some localized nuances in Wikipedia's coverage of locations in Bangladesh and the transliteration of Bangla language to English.

Geographic places of Bangladesh include (1) geo-political territories (divisions, districts, upazilas, thanas) and (2) localities (cities, towns, villages, neighborhoods, islands, etc).

The page names in the English Wikipedia, and place names used in the text, should be widely accepted modern English spellings. Hence, [[Sylhet]] but not Silet, Dhaka, not Dacca. Alternative and local names, including historical names and spellings can be mentioned in the lede. Redirects (see Redirect) should be created for these alternative and local names, and for alternative spellings, whether they are mentioned in Wikipedia or not.

When multiple spellings exist, choose the page name according to Bangladesh government portal. Next place to check is Banglapedia (www.banglapedia.org). Note that, government portal takes precedence, and that the government portal and Banglapedia use different transliterations in many cases.

Territories and localities

 * Usually proper names of administrative territories, such as divisions, districts, upazilas, wards, unions include these words as part of their names. In contrast, names of localities do not. Hence, [[Dhaka]] but not [[Dhaka city]] while [[Dhaka Division]] and [[Dhaka District]]. Similarly, [[Dhanmondi]] and Jigatola are two neighborhoods within [[Dhanmondi Thana]].


 * Words: district, division, upazila, thana are generally part of proper name and thus capitalized. Hence, Dhanmondi Thana but not Dhanmondi thana.


 * Often a locality can be governed by several different types of local governments. In such cases administrative bodies and branches may have their distinct articles. For example, municipal duties of Dhaka is primarily attributed to Dhaka North City Corporation and Dhaka South City Corporation. Civil policing is done by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) through several thanas including [[Badda Thana]], [[Gulshan Thana]] etc. Special administrative divisions will have the type name in parentheses; e.g. Gulshan (DNCC Zone).


 * Special places of interest and regions without political definitions can be handled similarly as localities.

Disambiguation
Whenever possible, articles on places in Bangladesh go under placename. Note that Dhaka, Dhaka District and Dhaka Division are different place names.

When disambiguation is needed, a comma convention is used:


 * For cities, district headquarter towns: placename, Bangladesh
 * For divisions and districts: placename, Bangladesh
 * For places within cities and towns: placename, cityname
 * For places and territories within districts, but not in a city: placename, district . Here, district name would drop the part District from name for sake of brevity. e.g. [[Kaliganj Upazila, Gazipur]] but not Kaliganj Upazila, Gazipur District.
 * When one level of disambiguation is not sufficient, use the disambiguated name of parent place: placename, A, B.