Wikipedia:Naming conventions (definite or indefinite article at beginning of name)

This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

Shortcuts WP:NCTHE WP:NCAN WP:THE

Introduction: This guideline is about naming conventions for Wikipedia articles, and discusses use of "The", "A", and "An" at the start of an article title. There are some situations where they are warranted, but many where they are not. When used inappropriately, they violate common usage, only serving as noise words. More importantly, this can cause problems with the length of the name, the quick search function, and sorting. Due to these problems, the default rule is to exclude them unless certain specific conditions are met, usually where they are integral to the article subject's name.

Convention: In general, a definite ("the") or indefinite ("a" or "an") article should be included at the beginning of the title of a Wikipedia article only if at least one of the following conditions is met:

1. If a term with a definite article has a different meaning with respect to the same term without the article, the term with the article can be used as the name of a Wikipedia article about that meaning, and the term without the article can be used as the name of a separate Wikipedia article.

   For example, "crown" means the headgear worn by a monarch or other high dignitaries, while "the Crown" is a term used to indicate the government authority and the property of that government in a monarchy.

2. If the definite or indefinite article would be capitalized in running text, then include it at the beginning of the Wikipedia article name. Otherwise, do not (except in the case of musical groups; see below).

   For example, The Old Man and the Sea includes the article "The" because sentences such as "Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1951" are written with a capitalized "The".

   On the contrary, United States does not include the article "The", because sentences such as "California is part of the United States" are written with a lowercase "the".

These conditions are sometimes met if the Wikipedia article name is:

• the title of a work or publication (e.g., The Old Man and the Sea, or The New York Times), or
• the official or commonly used name or nickname of a group, sports team or company (e.g., The Beatles, "The Invincibles", The Hershey Company), or
• another official or commonly used proper name (e.g., The Hague, The Crown).

Not all of the Wikipedia article names which belong to these categories meet the above-listed conditions. For instance, Mona Lisa is the name of a work of art, and Eurythmics is the name of a musical band, but neither includes a definite or indefinite article.

Use of definite and indefinite articles is acceptable as a form of natural disambiguation, if the article is not the primary topic for the article title without parenthetical disambiguation.

These guidelines also apply to foreign-language equivalents, such as Spanish El/La, German Das/Der/Die, etc.