Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ethnicities and tribes)

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This guideline contains conventions on how to name Wikipedia articles about peoples, ethnicities, and tribes. It should be read in conjunction with Wikipedia's general policy on article naming. This guideline explains how to handle cases where this format is not obvious, or for one reason or other is not followed.

General conventions and disambiguation

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There are several acceptable conventions for naming articles about ethnic groups. When deciding how to name such an article, consider the article title criteria. In general, the common English-language term for an ethnic group should be used. In many cases, the most concise title will be a plural demonym, e.g. Bretons or Swedes. Note that in some cases, the common plural form is a mass noun that is the same as the singular form, as with Batak, Cherokee, or Wodaabe.

In cases where no plural demonym exists, or where that demonym is ambiguous and not the primary topic, other forms can be used. The most common method of disambiguation is to add "people" to the end of the common singular form to create natural disambiguation, e.g. Chinese people (as Chinese is ambiguous). In articles describing multiple ethnic groups, "peoples" is pluralized, for example, Austronesian peoples. In some cases, parenthetical disambiguation will be necessary, especially when there are more than one ethnic group that share a name. Add a distinguishing term in parentheses after the common name. For example, Gavião (Jê) and Gavião (Rondônia) distinguish the two peoples from each other and other topics named Gavião.

Examples of use on the English Wikipedia are provided below:

Pattern Examples
Plural demonym Koreans · Germans · Swedes · Arab Canadians
Mass noun demonyms British Chinese · Iyer · Navajo
Adjectival with "people" French people · Wauja people
Adjectival with "peoples" Circumpolar peoples · Turkic peoples
Parenthetical disambiguation Macedonians (ethnic group)

Terms to watch

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Tribes

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Native American and Indigenous Canadian groups are defined primarily by citizenship. It is not a racial designation. The term "tribe" or "tribal nation" is only appropriate in Wikipedia titles if that is the official name for the group in question. Follow the naming conventions used in quality, well-sourced articles, and in the sources produced by the people, tribe, band, or nation in question. For instance:

  • Use the proper name of the tribal government, e.g. Seminole Tribe of Florida, Cowichan Tribes, or Spirit Lake Tribe. As proper names, titles should be capitalized.
  • Cases where sources use "tribe" in an ethnographic sense to mean a sub-group of a wider ethnicity, and the disambiguation options above are not commonly used or appropriate, such as the Nochiya tribe of Assyrian Christians.
  • Cases where sources always call the group a "tribe", e.g. the Tribe of Naphtali of the ancient Hebrews.
  • Do not add Nation onto a name for a group of people, unless that term is part of their official title, for instance, the Cherokee Nation. See US Native tribes (Lower 48) and Alaska Native tribes.
  • For ethnic group articles, the standard is to use their common name or their common name plus people, such as Cowlitz people.
  • Because the term is used in the official names for sovereign tribal nations, it can be considered offensive to use "tribe" for recent groupings of unrelated individuals, such as social clubs or sports teams.

Reservations and reserves

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  • For Indigenous communities or sovereign territories, use the term the community calls themselves, such as "reservation" (U.S.), "reserve" (Canada), "Indigenous region"/comarcas indígenas (Panama), or "Indigenous Territory"/Terra Indígena (Brazil). For instance, the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, or the Blue Quills First Nation Indian Reserve.
  • Note that tribal nations and reservations are not necessarily the same thing. For instance, some tribal nations like the Tohono Oʼodham Nation have multiple reservations, meaning that separate articles might cover each reservation as well as for the tribal nation itself. For an article that covers both, defer to official tribal sources when deciding which name to use.
  • In the Great Basin the term colony and in California rancheria might refer to a federally recognized tribe or its land base. These terms will appear in the formal name of the federally recognized tribe; however, reservation is appropriate for discussing the lands legally controlled by these nations.

Naming conventions: Native, Indigenous, Indian, etc

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For guidelines on writing about Indigenous identity on Wikipedia, especially in BLPs, see This essay by the Indigenous wikiproject for North America, and in particular, this section with examples.

Singular titles

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Use of the singular titles for ethnic groups is generally deprecated in favor of plural titles. Notably, a October–November 2015 request for comment determined that articles about American ethnic groups, which had largely used singular titles, such as African American and Chinese American, should use titles rendered in the plural, e.g. African Americans and Chinese Americans. Note that mass nouns may be the same as the singular form; these are acceptable if they are the common name.

Other

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Forms that require a definite article should not be used, e.g. French people is used instead of the French. Gendered terminology should also be avoided, e.g. English people is used instead of Englishmen.

Self-identification

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The names an ethnic group or Indigenous government self-identifies should be considered. If their autonym is commonly used in English, it would be the best article title. Any terms regarded as derogatory by members of the ethnic group in question should be avoided.

Individual self-identification is insufficient to determine Indigenous identity. Confirmation must come from the group in question. See WP:NDNID.

Disputes

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Disputes over how to refer to a group are addressed by policies such as Verifiability, Neutral point of view, Article titles, and English. Undiscussed, unilateral moves of widely edited articles are discouraged. Feel free to ask for advice on Indigenous articles at the wikiproject.

Notes

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