Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Ukrainian places)

This page is intended to help clarify how places in Ukraine should be referred to on Wikipedia. There are the multiple levels of administrative division in Ukraine. This is general guidance; there may be exceptions. Remember to take into account Wikipedia policies and guidelines when applying this guidance, especially the policy on article titles and the guideline on naming conventions for geographic names.

General guidance

Some general principles apply when referring to places in Ukraine on Wikipedia:

• In most cases, use the Ukrainian national romanisation system to transliterate Ukrainian place names, unless an alternative name or transliteration is demonstrably more common in (English-language) reliable sources. Details are in Wikipedia:Romanization of Ukrainian.
• Proper names of entities that derive their names from their location (such as companies and sports teams) should use the form most commonly used for that specific entity (e.g. Dynamo Kyiv, not Dynamo Kiev).
• Do not use the definite article before the word "Ukraine". This usage was formerly standard in English, but has been deprecated since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union.

First-level divisions

Ukraine is divided into twenty-four regions, called oblasts, one autonomous republic, and two cities with special status.

The conventions that govern the naming of articles on these subdivisions are as follows:

• Most oblasts are named after their administrative centres, e.g. Donetsk Oblast for the oblast with its centre in the city of Donetsk. Use the Ukrainian national transliteration of oblast names, unless another transliteration is more common, e.g. Luhansk Oblast, not Lugansk Oblast, and Odesa Oblast, not Odessa Oblast. See the Wikipedia guidelines on the romanisation of Ukrainian for more information on romanisation. Two oblasts have historical names that are not related to their administrative centres. These are Volyn Oblast and Zakarpattia Oblast. For these oblasts, do not use anglicisations that are used to refer to historical regions of the same name, e.g. do not write Lodomeria Oblast or Volhynia Oblast for Volyn Oblast, and do not write Transcarpathian Oblast for Zakarpattia Oblast.
• When referring specifically to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea administrative unit, please write out the full name, e.g. Autonomous Republic of Crimea, not Crimea. The republic does not include the Crimean city of Sevastopol, which is administered separately as a city with special status. If one is referring to the peninsula as a whole, including both the republic and Sevastopol: Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, or the use of a definite article with the Crimea are all acceptable; On usage of either Crimea or the Crimea articles should use the variant chosen when they were first written.
• The traditional English usage of the spelling Sebastopol is no longer common; write Sevastopol. For the same reason, Poltava is to be preferred to Pultava.

Referring to Kyiv

Whilst Kiev has been the customary English name of the city with special status, the modern transliteration of the Ukrainian name Kyiv has recently become more commonly used in English. "Kiev" was the longstanding title of Wikipedia's article on the subject. However, a move discussion closed on 16 September 2020 resulted in that article being moved to the title "Kyiv", following a documented shift in usage in English-language media.

An RfC closed on 11 November 2020 discussion established the following guidance for whether to use Kyiv or Kiev in an article:

• For unambiguously current/ongoing topics (e.g. Kyiv Metro), Kyiv is preferred.
• For unambiguously historical topics (e.g. Principality of Kiev), do not change existing content.
• For any edge cases, or in case of doubt or dispute, an RfC or move request debate is recommended.
• In all cases, name changes must follow the WP:BRD cycle.

The following rule of thumb for determining what is current or historical was also established:

• From October 1995 (Resolution of the Ukrainian Commission for Legal Terminology No. 5), Kyiv is presumptively appropriate subject to specifics of the article.
• From 24 August 1991 (Ukrainian independence), Kyiv is likely to be appropriate, but proceed with caution.

Second-level divisions

Oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are divided into districts, called raions. The conventions that govern the naming of articles on these subdivisions are as follows:

• Raions are titled "administrative centre Raion", e.g. Rivne Raion for the raion with its centre in Rivne. Use the Ukrainian national transliteration of the name of the administrative centre. See the Wikipedia guidelines on the romanisation of Ukrainian for more information on romanisation. Do not translate raion names, e.g. do not write Intercession Raion for Pokrovsk Raion. Do not maintain the Ukrainian adjectival suffix, e.g. write Zolochiv Raion for the raion with its centre in Zolochiv, not Zolochivskyi Raion. The word raion (Ukrainian: район) should not be translated when referring to the second-level division, e.g. Zolochiv Raion, not Zolochiv District.
• The names of cities should be transliterated into Latin letters with the Ukrainian national system, e.g. write Donetsk, not Donets'k (BGN/PCGN). Generally, do not use transliterations derived from Russian names for places in Ukraine, e.g. write Lviv, not Lvov. A notable exception where common English usage does not conform to the Ukrainian national transliteration is the name of the city of Chernobyl. Do not use the standard Ukrainian transliteration, which is Chornobyl respectively, as this is not in common use.

Third-level divisions

Raions are divided into municipalities, called hromadas. In 2015-2020, many hromadas were merged. The names of pre-2015 hromadas and post–2020 hromadas should be transliterated into Latin letters with the Ukrainian national system. Do not use transliterations derived from Russian names for hromadas, e.g. write Dmytrivka, not Dmitrovka.

• For hromadas with their administrative seat in a city, use "Administrative Centre urban hromada", e.g. Ternopil urban hromada, not Ternopil city hromada.
• For hromadas with their administrative seat in a rural settlement that was an urban-type settlement before 2024, write "Administrative Centre settlement hromada", e.g. Skhidnytsia settlement hromada, not Skhidnytsia town hromada.
• For hromadas with their administrative seat in a village or a pre-2024 rural settlement, use "Administrative Seat rural hromada", e.g. Velyki Hai rural hromada, not Velyki Hai village hromada

Urban districts

Some cities can also be divided into districts, termed "urban districts" or "urban raions". The conventions that govern the naming of articles on them are as follows:

• The names of urban districts vary, and are often named after an important feature in a given area. Articles about urban districts should therefore be transliterated with the Ukrainian national system, and should retain the Ukrainian adjectival suffix, e.g. write Zavodskyi District, not Zavod District. Do not translate urban district names, e.g. do not write Factory District for Zavodskyi District. The word raion (Ukrainian: район) should be translated when referring to urban districts, e.g. Zavodskyi District, not Zavodskyi Raion.

Disambiguation

See also: Wikipedia:Disambiguation

In many cases, multiple settlements or divisions within Ukraine will have the same name.
In order to disambiguate one settlement with a name from another with the same name, follow these conventions:

• If there is more than one settlement or district with a certain name in Ukraine, disambiguate by oblast, e.g. write Chornomorske, Odesa Oblast.
• If there is more than one settlement with a certain name in an oblast, disambiguate by raion, e.g. write Lukianivka, Brovary Raion.
• If there is more than one settlement with a certain name in an oblast, and there is also a settlement of that name in another oblast, disambiguate with both raion and oblast, e.g. write Kalynivka, Fastiv Raion, Kyiv Oblast.
• If there is only one settlement of a certain name in Ukraine, but there is a place of the same name outside of Ukraine, disambiguate by country, e.g. write Bar, Ukraine.
• If there is more than one urban district with a certain name in Ukraine, disambiguate by city, e.g. write Zavodskyi District, Zaporizhzhia.

Even if a name can refer to more than one settlement, it is important to consider whether one of these settlements may be the primary topic. For example, the Wikipedia article on the Russian town of Donetsk is titled Donetsk, Russia, but the article on the much larger and more significant city of Donetsk in Ukraine is titled simply Donetsk. These are only general guidelines. For more specific information on Wikipedia's policy on disambiguation, please go to this page.

Resources

• Wikipedia article titles policy
• Manual of Style
• Wiktionary guide to Ukrainian romanisation

Sources

WP:Naming conventions (geographic names)#Widely accepted name recommends using neutral and reliable sources to help determine the widely accepted name (per WP:COMMONNAME). Of the examples listed there, these are specifically applicable to Ukrainian place names:

• Encyclopedia Britannica, especially the article "Ukraine"
• Geographic Names Information System[1]
• National Geographic Society's up-to-date maps[2]
• The CIA World Factbook[3][4]
• English-language news media:
  • The New York Times[5]
  • The Washington Post[6]
  • The Times of London[7]
  • Reuters[8]
  • Associated Press[9]
  • Google News[10]
• News style guides:
  • The Guardian and The Observer style guide[11]
  • Australian Broadcasting Corporation style guide[12]
• Library of Congress Subject Headings[13]
• Web searches of reliable sources, but see WP:Search engine test
  • Google Scholar[14]
  • Google Book Search[15]
  • Google Ngram Viewer[16]