Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Burmese)

This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut WP:Myanmar

In naming Myanmar or Burmese-related topics and article titles, please follow these conventions.

Because there is no standardized romanization system for Burmese, spellings for the names of people and places often vary widely depending on the source. When a certain spelling is widely predominant in English sources, that spelling should be used. For place names, An Introduction to the Toponymy of Burma, published by The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use, is a useful source; however, its spellings are not based on usage, but largely on the official spellings of the present Burmese Government.

Burmese names are personal names that may consist of one or more words. Burmese people do not have first names or last names in the Western sense (although in informal speech many people use shortened nicknames). Thus when referring to Burmese people in Wikipedia articles, you should always use the full form of the person's name. For example, Mi Mi Khaing should never be referred to as just "Khaing" or "Daw Khaing".

Longer, polysyllabic personal names have become increasingly common among the Burmese (3 syllables for males, 4 for females). Unless the name contains Sanskrit or Pali loan words, each syllable should be separated with a space. Examples:

• Htet Htet Moe Oo (ထက်ထက်မိုးဦး)
  • All are native Burmese words
• Yadanar Khin (ရတနာခင်)
  • Yadanar is a Burmese loan of Pali ratana, "jewel"
  • Khin is a native Burmese word
• Khin Sandar Win (ခင်စန္ဒာဝင်း)
  • Sandar is a Burmese loan of Pali chanda, "moon"
  • Khin and Win are native Burmese words
• Tayza (တေဇ) (also spelled Tay Za or Teza by media)
  • Tayza is a Burmese loan of Pali teja, "glory"

Although the Manual of Style for biographies generally prohibits titles and honorifics from being used before a person's name, Burmese names are sometimes an exception. As Burmese names are often very short, honorifics are sometimes treated as an integral part of a person's name, for example, U Nu or U Thant. If a Burmese person's name consists of a single short word, or their name is most commonly written with the honorific, you may leave the honorific in the title. (This applies to ethnic honorifics as well.) Names that are recognizable without the honorific, like U Than Shwe, should generally not include the honorific.

Please use {{Burmese name}} to indicate which part of a name is honorific.

Below are some common honorifics used in Burmese names: