Wikipedia:WikiProject Belgium/Brussels naming conventions

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.

This article is Brussels related, and should follow the Brussels naming conventions.

For naming Brussels related articles, please take into account that:

1. Brussels is an officially bilingual city with French and Dutch sharing an equal place;
2. Although originally Dutch-speaking, Brussels is now majority French-speaking; making the language issue a sensitive matter (see Frenchification of Brussels for further details).
3. The naming should follow the most common usage in English (see WP:NC).
4. In addition to neutrality, readability is important.
5. These guidelines reflect a consensus in order to reduce disputes.

English or Anglicized names

If the subject has an English name or can easily be anglicized to facilitate reading and keep language neutrality:

• Use that name as a title (See WP:UE)
• Use that name throughout the article (see WP:MOS#Foreign terms)
• In the first line, if the translations are to be mentioned, follow the sequence French-Dutch
• In the infobox, use the sequence (English-)French-Dutch
  • Example: Leopold Park
• Ensure the French and Dutch names are redirects to the article.

Common usage

If the subject has no English name, or cannot be easily anglicized:

• Find out which name is used the most often in English.

In practice, this will almost always be French. Then:

• Use the French name in the title
• Use that name throughout the article
• In the first line, as well as in the infobox, follow the sequence French-Dutch
  • Example: Avenue Louise
• Ensure the French and Dutch names are redirects to the article.
• If Dutch is used more often in English, reverse Dutch and French above.

Bilingualism within articles

For all other things mentioned in the article, such as streets, squares, buildings, statues, railway or subway stations, and so on:

• Use the double name (be consistent about which format is used in each article) the first time the thing is mentioned unless there is a linkable article (in which case use the title) or an extremely obvious English name.
• Use the French (or Dutch, if that is more common in English) name thereafter.

• Example: There is an expensive store at the intersection of Rue de la Concorde/Eendrachtstraat and Avenue Louise. Rue de la Concorde has lots of fancy shops.
• Example: It is near Leopold Park.

For the Municipalities of Brussels:

• for the following municipalities the French name has been chosen, in line with the most commonly used names in English:
  • Auderghem
  • Forest, Belgium
  • Ixelles
  • Saint-Gilles, Belgium
  • Saint-Josse-ten-Noode
  • Schaerbeek
  • Uccle
  • Watermael-Boitsfort
  • Woluwe-Saint-Lambert
  • Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
• for the following municipalities no significant preference in the English language has been found. After discussion, the Dutch names have been chosen:
  • Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
  • Sint-Agatha-Berchem

Details about the decision can be found at Talk:Brussels-Capital Region/NamingArchive3.

If there is already a consensus, it does not need to be replaced to follow these guidelines.

Please add this template to the talk page of relevant articles: {{Brusselsname}}

This article is Brussels related, and should follow the Brussels naming conventions.