Wikipedia:Naming conventions (thorn)

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.
Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump.

[proposed] convention: it is not a good idea to use the thorn character (Þ/þ) in Wikipedia page names, except for redirect pages.

Rationale

The basic "naming conventions" principle refers to recognisability, as formulated per naming conventions policy:

Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature.

Þ/þ fails this recognisability criterion for many native English speakers (not to mention a large body of EAL visitors of wikipedia).

In article text this is less a problem while there the character can be linked to Þ or þ, which both redirect to the Thorn (letter) article.

What to do

Articles regarding the Þ/þ character

For articles regarding the Þ/þ character, replace the character by "thorn" or "thorn (letter)" in the article title. Examples:

Thorn (letter)
Wikipedia:Naming conventions (thorn) (this guideline)

Provide redirects:

At least Þ and þ for the first example above;
At least Wikipedia:Naming conventions (þ) for the second example above.

Article titles containing words that in their original version would contain Þ or þ

For articles where Þ or þ is used as part of a word:

try to find the most common transliteration of the word, not using Þ or þ
Example: Thor for the Norse/Germanic deity.
If that fails, replace "Þ" by "Th" and "þ" by "th".
Example: Both "thane" and "thegn" are common renderings of the Old English þegn - the Wikipedia article is at thegn (þ→th - e→e - g→g - n→n).

Provide redirects for the most frequently occurring formats containing the þ/Þ character, e.g.:

for the Thor example at least Þórr (Old Norse) and Þunor (Old English)
þegn redirects to thegn

Exceptions

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Norse mythology) for exceptions.