Wikipedia:WikiProject Cities/Names issues

This page exists to develop a standard for how to treat alternate names for towns covered by WikiProject Cities. It aims primarily to establish guidelines for articles on towns, but secondarily also for references to towns. Relevant discussion is carried out at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Cities/Names issues.

Naming issues, i.e. how to name articles on towns, is however covered by Naming conventions (city names).

WikiProject Rivers does not yet mention the analogous problem, and WikiProject Lakes does not yet exist, why this standard is better developed with an analogous standard for lakes and rivers in mind.

Many international cities have a recent history (i.e. of the last few centuries) of belonging to a different nation and/or state than to the one in which they are now a part. For example, what is now Poland was divided between various German states, Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire for most of the time between the late 1700s and the end of World War One. Many towns have had official names that were either transliterations or translations to the language of the governing nation, or totally different names than the names used by natives.
 * Background/need:

There is often a difference in opinions on how or if these alternates should be mentioned in the introductory paragraph, and many edit wars have erupted, which this standard attempts to prevent and to limit.

Scope
First order of business is to try to get an idea of the scope that should be included.

By situations

 * Poland (restored after "partitioning"): 1790s to WWI (mostly) Polish towns had alternate names given by the occupying states of Germany, Austria and Russia


 * Borders changed in aftermath of WWII: Districts that are now in states that they weren't in for much of modern history (e.g.: Szczecin, Gdansk)


 * Independence from USSR (any places that USSR changed town names that were restored after 1990?)


 * Borders changed in the aftermath of World War I (aside from Polish issues) - the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in particular. Also the independence of the Baltic states and Finland, and border changes along Germany's western and northern borders.


 * The break-up of the Ottoman Empire and its replacement by nation-states including Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia (and its successors), Albania, ...


 * Cities largely populated by linguistic/ethnic groups which never held political power, e.g. Yiddish-speaking Jews in some Eastern European cities; Aromanians in the Ottoman Empire and its successors.


 * Colonial names (Port Arthur in China,


 * another area/type of situation, etc.

By modern states

 * Albania
 * Greek names (Αυλώνα)
 * Aromanian names (Moscopole)


 * Belarus
 * Russian names
 * Polish names (Grodno, Mińsk, Pińsk etc.)


 * China
 * English names (Port Arthur)
 * Russian names (Dalny)
 * Japanese names (Dairen)


 * Croatia
 * German names (Agram) (??)
 * Italian names (Ragusa, Spalato, Fiume etc.)


 * Czech Republic
 * Polish names (Cieszyn, Zaolzie etc.)
 * German names


 * Estonia
 * German names (Reval, Dorpat)
 * Russian names


 * Finland
 * Swedish names (Helsingfors, Åbo)


 * France
 * German names (Elsass, Straßburg)


 * Germany
 * Danish names (Slesvig, Flensborg)
 * Lusatian names
 * Slavic names (Trave river)
 * Sorbian names
 * French names (Mayence, Treves, Ratisbon)


 * Greece
 * Aromanian names (Aminciu, Gârtsia)
 * Italian names (Scarpanto)
 * Ladino/Judeo-Spanish names (סלוניקה), though really, we do not use much the Hebrew alphabet outside Israel and/or for non-religious purposes on top of it, so actually (Salonik(a)) would do fine!
 * Rumanian/Romanian names (Salonic, Grecia, Atena),...)
 * Slavic (Macedonian/Bulgarian) names (Lerin, Солун, Гърция/Gartsia,...)
 * Turkish names (Selânik)


 * Hungary
 * German names (Fünfkirchen, Stuhlweissenburg)


 * Israel
 * Rumanian/Romanian names (Ierusalim,...)


 * Italy
 * German names (Bolzano-Bozen, Trento-Trent)


 * Lithuania
 * Polish names (Wilno, Kowno, Mariampol etc.)
 * German names (Memel)
 * Belarussian names (Vilnia)


 * Macedonia (FYR)
 * Albanian names (Manastir)
 * Bulgarian names (Битоля)
 * Greek names (Μοναστήρι)
 * Serbian names (Битољ)
 * (Ottoman) Turkish names (Manastır)


 * Poland
 * German names (Stettin, Breslau, Danzig, Posen etc.)
 * Czech names (Kladsko etc.)
 * Lithuanian names (Suvalkai)
 * Cassubian names (Gduńsk, Gdiniô etc.)
 * Belarussian names (Belavezhskaya Pushcha versus Bialowieza Forest)
 * Ukrainian names (Peremyshl - Перемишль, Reshiv -Жешув)
 * Rusyn names (Bogusza-Bogusha)


 * Romania / Rumania
 * Hungarian names (Temesvar)
 * German (Saxon) names (Temeschburg, Hermanstadt,...))
 * Ladino/Judeo-Spanish names (Kraiova, Bukuresh)
 * Serbian names (Темишвар)


 * Russia
 * Finnish, Swedish, German names (Vyborg, Käkisalmi/Kexholm, Pähkinäsaari/Nöteborg/Orechovets/Schlüsselburg)
 * Russian names restored after the fall of USSR (Saint Petersburg vs Leningrad)


 * Serbia and Montenegro
 * Italian names (Cattaro)
 * Hungarian names (Szabadka)
 * Romanian names (Vârşeţ)


 * Slovakia
 * German names (Pressburg)
 * Hungarian names (Pozsony)
 * Polish names (Spisz, Orawa)
 * Ruthenian names (official in Eastern Slovakia)


 * Slovenia
 * German names (Laibach)


 * Turkey
 * Armenian names (Կարս)
 * Greek names (Κωνσταντινούπολις)
 * Laz/Georgian names
 * Kurdish names (Amed)
 * Syriac names (ܐܡܝܕ Āmîḏ)
 * Arabic names (Hatay province)


 * Ukraine
 * Crimean Tatar names (Qarasuvbazar)
 * German names (Lemberg)
 * Hungarian names (Ungvár)
 * Polish names (Lwów)
 * Rumanian/Romanian names (Cetatea Albă)
 * Russian names (Lvov < Львов)
 * Turkish names (Akkerman)
 * Ukrainian names (Kyiv < Київ)
 * Yiddish names (Lemberg < לעמבערג)

Intro paragraph

 * 1: Is there a need to mention alternate names?
 * 2: If so, then how many?
 * 3: If so, then which ones?
 * 4: Is there ever an "English" name for these places, or did English speakers pick one version over another?
 * 5: How should the standard wording be formatted?
 * 6: What is the relevance test for former names? (see Rumia, a tiny village that had its official German name but became a city after it got back to Poland)
 * 7: Should a link to other alternate names be in intro paragraph?
 * 8: Should there be criteria based on historical periods (e.g. only names used since Napoleon?), based on usage in the scholarly literature? based on importance of an ethnic group?

Rest of article

 * 1: Should only one name be used throughout the article about a city or should it depend on historical period, and if so what would be the criteria?