Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography

"WP:NAMES" redirects here. For names of articles, see Wikipedia:Article titles. For usernames, see Wikipedia:Username policy.

This page sets out guidelines for achieving visual and textual consistency in biographical articles and in biographical information in other articles; such consistency allows Wikipedia to be used more easily. While this guideline focuses on biographies, its advice pertains, where applicable, to all articles that mention people.

For a short version, see Wikipedia:Biography dos and don'ts.

Lead section

Further information: WP:Manual of Style/Lead section and WP:Biographies of living persons

When writing about controversies in the lead section of a biography, relevant material should neither be suppressed nor allowed to overwhelm: always pay scrupulous attention to reliable sources, and make sure the lead correctly reflects the entirety of the article. Write clinically, and let the facts speak for themselves. These concerns are especially pressing at biographies of living persons.

Well-publicized recent events affecting a subject, whether controversial or not, should be kept in historical perspective. What is most recent is not necessarily what is most notable: new information should be carefully balanced against old, with due weight accorded to each.

When a subject dies, the lead need not be radically reworked; Wikipedia is not a memorial site. Unless the cause of death is itself a reason for notability, a single sentence describing the death is usually sufficient, and often none is included in the lead at all, just a death date.

Opening paragraph

MoS guidelines for lead paragraphs should generally be followed; the opening paragraph should establish notability, neutrally describe the person, and provide context. The opening paragraph should usually state:

1. Name(s) and title(s), if any (see also Wikipedia:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility));
2. Dates of birth and death, if found in secondary sources (do not use primary sources for birth dates of living persons or other private details about them).
3. Context (location or nationality);
4. The notable position(s) the person held, activities they took part in, or roles they played;
5. Why the person is notable.

Name: Handling of the subject's name in the lead sentence is covered in detail below; see § First mention.

Birth date and place

Further information: WP:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers § Dates of birth and death

The opening paragraph should usually have dates of birth and (when applicable) death. These dates (specific day–month–year) are important information about the subject, but if they are also mentioned in the body, the vital year range (in brackets after the person's full name) may be sufficient to provide context. For living persons, privacy should be considered (see WP:BLPPRIVACY, which takes precedence). Birth and death places, if known, should be mentioned in the body of the article, and can appear in the lead if relevant to notability, but not in the opening brackets alongside the birth and death dates.

Birth and death labels are included only when needed for clarity. When given, use full words, whether immediately preceding a date or not:

• William Alexander Spinks Jr. (1865–1933) was an American professional player of carom billiards in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. – no need for labels, and specific dates are in the article body
• Gro Harlem Brundtland (... born Gro Harlem; 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician ... – "born" label used to introduce birth name

For an approximate date or range of dates, use c. (abbreviation for circa); at first occurrence this should be done with the template {{circa}} a.k.a. {{c.}}, which explains the abbreviation: c. 1457. When the only date known for a historical subject is a date (or range) when they were alive, fl. for floruit is used; at first occurrence the {{floruit}} a.k.a. {{fl.}} template produces similar output: fl. 1432.

For full details on how to format simple and complex dates and ranges, see WP:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers § Chronological items.

Outside of the lead section, birth and death details are not included after a name except in a case of special contextual relevance. Abbreviations like b. and d. can be used, if needed, when space is limited (e.g., in a table) and when used repetitively (e.g., in a list of people).

Context

"WP:ETHNICITY" redirects here. You may be looking for WP:WikiProject Anthropology, WP:WikiProject Sociology, or WP:Race and ethnicity.

The opening paragraph should usually provide context for the activities that made the person notable. In most modern-day cases this will be the country of which the person is a citizen, national or permanent resident, or if the person is notable mainly for past events, the country where the person was a citizen, national or permanent resident when the person became notable. Ethnicity, religion, or sexuality should generally not be in the lead unless it is relevant to the subject's notability. Similarly, previous nationalities or the place of birth should not be mentioned in the lead unless they are relevant to the subject's notability.

Positions and roles

The lead sentence should describe the person as he or she is commonly described in reliable sources. The notable position(s) or role(s) the person held should usually be stated in the opening paragraph. However, avoid overloading the lead paragraph with various and sundry roles; instead, emphasize what made the person notable. Incidental and non-notable roles (i.e. activities that are not integral to the person's notability) should usually not be mentioned in the lead paragraph.

For particulars on different types of titles, see § Positions, offices, and occupational titles, below.

Examples

• Cleopatra VII Philopator (‹See Tfd›Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ; 69 – August 12, 30 BC), known to history simply as Cleopatra, was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt ...
• Francesco Petrarca (Italian: [franˈtʃesko peˈtrarka]; July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (/ˈpiːtrɑːrk, ˈpɛ-/), was a scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, who was one of the earliest humanists.
• Cesar Estrada Chavez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW) ...
• François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was a French statesman who was President of France from 1981 to 1995, ...

Names

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)

Most of the examples throughout this section illustrate usage in the title sentence, but are generally applicable to personal names in any encyclopedic text unless the advice provided is explicitly about the lead section at the subject's own biographical article.

First mention

While the article title should generally be the name by which the subject is most commonly known, the subject's full name, if known, should be given in the lead sentence (including middle names, if known, or middle initials). Many cultures have a tradition of not using the full name of a person in everyday reference, but the article should start with the complete version. For example:

• (from Fidel Castro) Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016) ...
• (from Muammar Gaddafi) Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (Template:Lang-ar; /ˈmoʊ.əmɑːr ɡəˈdɑːfi/; c. 1942 – 20 October 2011) ...
• (from Helen Keller) Helen Adams Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) ...

Changed names

In some cases, subjects have had their full names changed at some point after birth. In these cases the birth name should be given in the lead as well:

• (from Jack Benny) Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) ...
• (from Bill de Blasio) Bill de Blasio (/dɪˈblɑːzioʊ/; born Warren Wilhelm Jr.; May 8, 1961) ...

In other cases, subjects have changed their full name multiple times in accordance to customs, corrective measure, or personal preference. One may bold or otherwise list multiple name changes if they were notably known by them as "sign posts" in the lead. It is not necessary to list previous names of subjects when they are not notably known by them:

• Bill de Blasio (born Warren Wilhelm Jr.; May 8, 1961)  is a politician... he was briefly known as Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm ...

Instead the names should be distributed throughout the lead to mark major transitions in the subject's life:

• Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD) was a Roman emperor ... He was born Gaius Octavius Thurinus into a wealthy family ... he assumed the name Octavian after his adoption ...

In the case of transgender and non-binary people, birth names should be included in the lead sentence only when the person was notable under that name. One can introduce the name with either "born" or "formerly":

• (from Laverne Cox, not notable under prior name) Laverne Cox (born May 29) ...
• (from Chelsea Manning, notable under prior name) Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning; December 17, 1987) ...

If the subject has had their surnames (last name) at birth changed for whatever reason (e.g. marriage, adoption, personal preference) then their surnames at birth should also be given in the lead. Editors may denote this with "born" followed by the subject's full name; they may also use née (feminine) and né (masculine) followed by the surname, provided the term is linked at first occurrence. The template {{nee}} may prove useful if the é character is difficult to type.

Some practical examples:

• Lucy Washington (née Payne; c. 1772 – 1846) was the sister of Dolly Madison ...
• John Anthony White (né Gillis; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician, singer, songwriter ...
• Barbara Flynn (born Barbara Joy McMurray; 5 August 1948) is an English actress ...
• Marion Worth (born Mary Ann Ward; July 4, 1930 – December 19, 1999) was an American country music singer ...

If a person is named in an article in which they are not the subject, they should be referred to by the name they were using at the time of the mention rather than a name they may have used before or after the mention. However, see MOS:IDENTITY. For example, Pope John Paul I was known as Albino Luciani before he was elevated to the papacy. Any reference to him before he became pope should use the name Albino Luciani.

Initials

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) § Middle names and initials

Use initials in a personal name only if the name is commonly written that way.

An initial is capitalized and is followed by a full point (period) and a space (e.g. J. R. R. Tolkien), unless:

• the person demonstrably has a different, consistently preferred style for his or her own name; and
• an overwhelming majority of reliable sources use that variant style for that person.

In such a case, treat it as a self-published name change. Examples include k.d. lang, CC Sabathia, and CCH Pounder.

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Trademarks

In article text, a space after an initial (or an initial and a full point) and another initial should be a non-breaking space: J. R. R. Tolkien (or use the {{nbsp}} template). This even works inside links: [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], though only with   markup, not the template.

Initials in other languages are sometimes treated differently from usual English practice. For example, a name beginning with two letters representing a single sound is treated as a single two-character initial in some European languages (e.g., Th. for Theophilus), and hyphenated given names are sometimes abbreviated with the hyphen (J.-P. for Jean-Pierre). If reliable sources consistently use such a form for a particular person, use it on Wikipedia as well.

Avoid formerly common multi-letter abbreviations used in English as a shorthand in letter-writing, genealogies, etc. (examples: Geo. = George; Jno. = John; Jna. = Jonathan; Thos. = Thomas; Jas. = James, Chas. = Charles), except in quotations and as they survive in trademarks (Geo. Hall & Sons). E.g., refer to the author as George W. Proctor, though some of his books have Geo. W. Proctor on the cover; it should redirect to his article.

With initials, it is not necessary to spell out why the article title and lead paragraph give a different name. For example, H. P. Lovecraft has that title, H. P. Lovecraft appears in his infobox, and his lead sentence just gives Howard Phillips Lovecraft ... was an American writer ..., without "explaining" to the reader what "H. P." stands for. Initials are not nicknames; do not put them in quotation marks or insert them in mid-name, as in John Thomas Smith better known as "J. T." Smith or John Thomas (J. T.) Smith.

Generational and regnal suffixes

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) § Junior/Senior – the Younger/the Elder – Ordinals

Using Jr., Sr., or other such distinctions as a disambiguation technique is advised only for cases in which the name with the suffix is well-attested in reliable sources. Otherwise, explain in longer form which party is meant, e.g. The younger Jackson was elected mayor of Wolverham in 1998.

Omission of the comma before Jr. or Sr. (or variations such as Jnr) is preferred.

In running text, in the unusual case that a comma is used before the suffix, then a comma (or equivalent) is also placed after it (Neil Brown, Jr., is an American actor; but prefer Neil Brown Jr. is an American actor).

When the surname is shown first, the suffix follows the given name, as Kennedy, John F. Jr. When the given name is omitted, omit the suffix—Kennedy, not Kennedy Jr.—except where the context requires disambiguation.

Do not place a comma before a Roman numeral name suffix, whether it is patronymic or regnal: use Otis D. Wright II, not Otis D. Wright, II.

The French fils ('son') and père ('father') can be used for subjects for whom this usage is typical in English-language works: Alexandre Dumas fils.

See § People with the same surname for an additional usage note.

Pseudonyms, stage names, nicknames, hypocorisms, and common names

For people who are best known by a pseudonym, the legal name should usually appear first in the article, followed closely by the pseudonym. Follow this practice even if the article itself is titled with the pseudonym:

• Louis Bert Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by the stage name Slim Pickens

Investigation in reliable sources may be needed to determine whether a subject known usually by a pseudonym has actually changed their legal name to match (e.g., Reginald Kenneth Dwight formally changed his name to Elton Hercules John early in his musical career). Where this is not the case, and where the subject uses a popular form of their name in everyday life, then care must be taken to avoid implying that a person who does not generally use all their forenames or who uses a familiar form has actually changed their name. Do not write, for example:

• John Edwards (born Johnny Reid Edwards, June 10, 1953).

It is not always necessary to spell out why the article title and lead paragraph give a different name. If a person has a common English-language hypocorism (diminutive or abbreviation) used in lieu of a given name, it is not presented between quotation marks or parentheses into or after their name. Example:

• Tom Hopper's lead has simply: Thomas Edward Hopper.

Use formulations like the following (as applicable) for any kind of alternative name:

• Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen
• Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi (c. 1445 – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli
• Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda (born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía

If a person is known by a nickname used in lieu of or in addition to a given name, and it is not a common hypocorism of one of their names, or a professional alias, it is usually presented between double quotation marks following the last given name or initial; the quotation marks are not put in lead-section boldface. Example:

• Bunny Berigan has: Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan.

A nickname can eventually become a professional alias, even the most common name for a person. Such a case loses the quotation marks, other than in the subject's lead section if introducing the nickname in mid-name. If the monicker is dominant (in general or in a particular context) it can often be used in other articles without further elaboration. Example:

• Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is ...

In the article (and in other articles) use: Magic Johnson left Michigan State after his sophomore season to enter the NBA draft. See also the Dr. Ruth and Dr. Drew examples in § Academic titles, below; these trademarks, once informal nicknames, do not require quotation marks.

If a nickname is used in place of the subject's entire name, it is usually given separately:

• Alphonse Gabriel Capone ... sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface".

A leading "the" is not capitalized in a nickname, pseudonym, or other alias (except when the alias begins a sentence):

• Use: Jack "the Assassin" Tatum; or: Jack Tatum, nicknamed "the Assassin"
• Avoid: Jack "The Assassin" Tatum; and: Jack Tatum, nicknamed "The Assassin"

Nicknames should not be re-presented with additional name parts unless necessary for usage clarity.

• Use: Earl "the Pearl" Strickland; or: Earl Strickland, nicknamed "Earl the Pearl"
• Avoid: Earl Strickland, nicknamed "Earl the Pearl" Strickland

Common nicknames, aliases, and variants are usually given in boldface in the lead, especially if they redirect to the article, or are found on a disambiguation page or hatnote and link from those other names to the article. Boldface is not needed for obscure ones or a long list, and those that are not well known to our readers may not need to be in the lead at all.

• Use: Genghis Khan or Chinggis Khaan (c. 1162 – August 18, 1227), born Temüjin, was the founder of the Mongol Empire.
• Avoid: Genghis Khan or Chinggis Khaan (Template:Lang-mn; Chinese: 成吉思汗; pinyin: Chéngjísī Hán; Wade–Giles: Ch'eng²-chi²-szu¹ Han⁴; c. 1162 – August 18, 1227), born Temüjin (Тэмүжин Temüjin; traditional Chinese: 鐵木真; simplified Chinese: 铁木真; pinyin: Tiěmùzhēn; Wade–Giles: T'ieh³-mu⁴-chen¹), was the founder of the Mongol Empire.
  Foreign language details can make the lead sentence difficult to understand.
• Use: Joseph John Aiuppa (December 1, 1907 – February 22, 1997), also known as "Joey O'Brien" and later as "Joey Doves", was a Chicago mobster.
• Avoid: Joseph John Aiuppa (December 1, 1907 – February 22, 1997), also known as "Joey O'Brien", "Joey O.", "O'Brien", "Joey Doves'", "Joey the Doves", and "Mourning Doves", was a Chicago mobster.
  The various nicknames are mostly how other mobsters – not so much the reliable sources – referred to Joey Aiuppa, and only two of them were widely reported, the rest being minor variants.

Nicknames and other aliases included must be frequently used by reliable sources in reference to the subject. For example, a sports journalist's one-off reference to a player as "the Atlanta panther" in purple prose does not constitute a nickname, and treating it as one is original research. Highlighting uncommon or disputed appellations in the lead section gives them undue weight, and may also be a more general neutrality problem if the phrase is laudatory or critical. Example: "Tricky Dick" does not appear in the lead of Richard Nixon, despite being a redirect to that article; this label by his political opponents is covered, with context, in the article body.

Families

Main page: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (families)

Royal surnames

See also: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility)

Most European royal families do not have surnames. Many that do have different personal surnames from the name of their royal house. For example, different members of the House of Windsor have a range of surnames: Windsor, Mountbatten-Windsor, etc., and senior royals do not normally use a surname at all. Similarly, the House of Habsburg is different from the surnames of some members of the Habsburg / Habsburg-Lorraine family.

Incorporate surnames in the opening line of an article, if they are known, and if they are in normal use. But do not automatically presume that a name of a royal family is the personal surname of its members. In many cases it is not. For visual clarity, articles on royalty should begin with the form "{royal title} {name} {ordinal if appropriate} (full name – including surname if known, except for monarchs)" with the full name unformatted and the rest in bold (3 apostrophes). In practice, this means for example an article on Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf should begin "Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus)". Using this format displays the most important information clearly without an unattractive excess of formatting. Other information on royal titles should be listed where appropriate in chronological order.

Subsequent use

"Wikipedia:Surname" redirects here. For surname-article issues, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Anthroponymy.

After the initial mention of any name, the person should generally be referred to by surname only, without an honorific prefix such as "Mr", "Mrs", "Ms", "Miss", or "Mx", or by a pronoun. For example:

• Fred Smith was a Cubist painter in the early 20th century. He moved to Genoa, where he met singer Gianna Doe. Smith and Doe later married.

However, where a person does not have a surname but a patronymic (like many Icelanders, some Mongols, and those historical persons who are known by names-and-patronymics instead of surnames), then the proper form of reference is usually the given name. (See also Country-specific usage below.) For example:

• Iceland's Prime Minister is Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. Jóhanna was elected to the Althing in 1978.

Generally speaking, subjects should not be referred to by their given name. The use of the given name gives the impression that the writer knows the subject personally, which is not relevant—even if true. Exceptions include royalty, e.g. "Prince Charles" or "Charles". Any subject who has had their surnames changed should be referred to by their most commonly used name. If their most commonly used name does include their prior surname, and you're discussing a period of their life before the surname change, refer to them by their prior surname. In other words, when discussing the early lives of Hillary and Bill Clinton, avoid sentences like "Clinton met Clinton while they were students at Yale."

A member of the nobility may be referred to by title if that form of address would have been the customary way to refer to him or her; for example Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, may become "the Earl of Leicester", "the Earl", or just "Leicester" in subsequent mentions. Be careful not to give someone a title too soon; for example, one should use "Robert Dudley" or "Dudley" when describing events before his elevation to the peerage in 1564.

People who are best known by a pseudonym should be subsequently referred to by their pseudonymous surnames, unless they do not include a recognizable surname in the pseudonym (e.g. Sting, Snoop Dogg, the Edge), in which case the whole pseudonym is used. For people well known by one-word names, nicknames, or pseudonyms, but who often also use their legal names professionally—e.g., musician/actors André Benjamin ("André 3000"), Jennifer Lopez ("J.Lo"); doctor/broadcaster Drew Pinsky ("Dr. Drew") – use the legal surname. If they use their mononym or pseudonym exclusively, then use that name (e.g. Aaliyah, Selena, Usher, and Madonna).

For people with academic or professional titles, subsequent mentions should omit them. For example, use "Asimov", "Hawking", and "Westheimer"; not "Dr. Asimov", "Professor Hawking", or "Dr. Ruth".

Country-specific usage

See also: Category:Hatnote templates for names

• Burmese names are personal names that consist of one or more words, with no patronymic or surname. Always use the full form of the person's name. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Burmese).
• Eritrean and Ethiopian people are almost always referred to by their given name as they do not have a family name. There are some rare exceptions to this: where the person—usually a member of the later generations of the Eritrean diaspora or Ethiopian diaspora—has adopted the patronymic as a formal family name. Consider using the template {{Patronymic name}}.
• In Southeast Asia, many people use only a personal name, which may be followed by a patronymic; they should be referred to by their personal name.
• Mongolian people are referred to by their given name, with their patronymic placed in front of it, usually in genitive case. There are no family names. For more details, see Mongolian name and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Mongolian); consider placing {{Mongolian name}}.
• Thai people are often referred to by their first name (i.e. given name) without a family name, even in formal situations. Hence, on second and subsequent mentions, they should be referred to by their first name.
• In Vietnam, given names also have the priority over family names. The given name, not the surname, should be used to refer to the person. The given name is nevertheless placed after the family name, following the East Asian naming scheme, even when translated to European languages.

Also see Wikipedia:Categorization of people#Sort by surname on the proper sorting of these names.

People with the same surname

To distinguish between people with the same surname in the same article or page, use given names or complete names to refer to each of the people upon first mention. For subsequent uses, refer to them by their given names for clarity and brevity. When referring to the person who is the subject of the article, use just the surname unless the reference is part of a list of family members or if use of the surname alone will be confusing. This applies to minors as well as adults. While citations and bibliographies should use full names even in subsequent mentions (if full names are the style for citations and bibliographies in the article), the body of an article should not unless confusion could result.

For example, in the text of an article on Ronald Reagan:

• Correct: Ronald and Nancy Reagan arrived separately, Ronald by helicopter and Nancy by car.
• Correct: The Reagans arrived separately, Ronald by helicopter and Nancy by car.
• Redundant: Ronald and Nancy Reagan arrived separately; Ronald Reagan by helicopter and Nancy Reagan by car.

In the text of an article about the Brothers Grimm:

• Correct: Jacob Grimm was 14 months older than his brother Wilhelm.
• Redundant: Jacob Grimm was 14 months older than his brother Wilhelm Grimm.

Individuals distinguished with a generational suffix can be written about in Forename Suffix style to disambiguate from other family members in the same article: William Sr., John Jnr, James III. No comma is used in these short constructions.

If an article about a person mentions another person with the same surname who is not related by family or marriage, subsequent mentions of the other person should use the full name:

• Correct: Andrea Dworkin was the subject of biographical writing by Ronald Dworkin

In an article that is not about either unrelated person with the same surname, continue to refer to them both by their full names. Source citations, bibliographies, and in-text attributions usually include names of authors and others. Consider them when checking for people with the same surname.

Names confused with common words and well-known single names

Some names look like common words that are usually capitalized, or like well-known historical figures. Subsequent mentions of these individuals should use their given names or full names. Examples include: I, Lord, Christ, Moses, Islam, and Mohammed (the last with various spellings).

Titles of people

Overview: Avoid capitalization of titles except when one is attached to an individual's name, or the position/office is the subject itself, and the term is the actual title or conventional translation thereof (not a description or rewording). Avoid also the use of titles that are unnecessary for clarity or identification in the context, except in the lead sentence of a biographical subject's own article. Exact specifics may vary, as described in more detail below.

Non-English titles are most often translated into English, but this is left to editorial discretion and may be conventionalized across a category, based primarily on usage in English-language reliable sources (e.g. recipients of German knighthoods like Robert Ritter von Greim are not translated into "Sir Robert Greim", and are usually rendered in Robert von Greim form in running text; the Tibetan title Dalai Lama is far more familiar to English speakers than any literal or figurative translation.)

Hyphenation and compounds: When hyphenated and capitalized, e.g. Vice-president (as it is usually spelled in contexts other than US politics), the element after the hyphen is not capitalized. When an unhyphenated compound title is capitalized (unless this is simply because it begins a sentence), each word begins with a capital letter: In 1973, Vice President Agnew resigned. This does not apply to unimportant words, such as the of in White House Chief of Staff John Doe. Do not use a hyphen, dash, or slash to fuse two titles someone holds; give them separately: XYZCo Regional Director and Staff Counsel Janet Goldstein.

Positions, offices, and occupational titles

Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style § Titles of people

Offices, titles, and positions such as president, king, emperor, grand duke, lord mayor, pope, bishop, abbot, chief financial officer, and executive director are common nouns and therefore should be in lower case when used generically: Mitterrand was the French president or There were many presidents at the meeting. They are capitalized only in the following cases:

• When followed by a person's name to form a title, i.e., when they can be considered to have become part of the name: President Nixon, not president Nixon
• When a title is used to refer to a specific and obvious person as a substitute for their name, e.g., the Queen, not the queen, referring to Elizabeth II
• When a formal title for a specific entity (or conventional translation thereof) is addressed as a title or position in and of itself, is not plural, is not preceded by a modifier (including a definite or indefinite article), and is not a reworded description:

Unmodified, denoting a title	Modified or reworded, denoting an office
Richard Nixon was President of the United States.	Richard Nixon was the president of the United States. Richard Nixon was a president of the United States. Nixon was the 37th president of the United States. Nixon was one of the more controversial American presidents. A controversial US president, Richard Nixon, resigned. Camp David is a mountain retreat for presidents of the United States.
Louis XVI became King of France and Navarre in 1774, later styled King of the French (1791–1792).	Louis XVI was a king of France. Louis XVI was the king of France when the French Revolution began. The French king, Louis XVI, was later beheaded.

Even when used with a name, capitalization is not required for commercial and informal titles: OtagoSoft vice-president Chris Henare; team co-captain Chan.

The formality (officialness), specificity, or unusualness of a title is not a reason to capitalize it.

Academic titles and degrees

"WP:CREDENTIALS" redirects here. For the use of credentials by Wikipedia editors, see Wikipedia:There is no credential policy.

Academic and professional titles (such as "Dr." or "Professor"), including honorary ones, should be used in a Wikipedia article only when the subject is widely known by a pseudonym or stage name containing such a title (whether earned or not). In this case, it may be included in the pseudonym as described above (e.g. Ruth Westheimer, better known as Dr. Ruth ...). However, verifiable facts about how a person attained his or her title should be included in the article.

• Stephen William Hawking CH CBE FRS FRSA (8 January 1942 – 14 March 2018) was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge ...
• David Drew Pinsky (born September 4, 1958), commonly known as Dr. Drew, is a board-certified physician and addiction medicine specialist. ... Pinsky ... earned his MD at the University of Southern California School of Medicine in 1984 ...

Post-nominal letters for academic degrees following the subject's name (such as Steve Jones, PhD; Margaret Doe, JD) may occasionally be used within an article where the person with the degree is not the subject, to clarify that person's qualifications with regard to some part of the article, though this is usually better explained in descriptive wording. Avoid this practice otherwise. When they are used, follow WP:Manual of Style/Abbreviations as to their rendering.

Post-nominal letters

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Abbreviations § Initials, and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people) § Middle names and initials

Post-nominal letters should be included in the lead section when they are national or international honours or appointments issued by a state, or a widely recognized organization, with which the subject has been closely associated.

The lead sentence should be concise: Academic (including honorary) degrees and professional qualifications may be mentioned in the article, along with the above, but should be omitted from the lead, as should superseded honors (e.g. the lesser of two grades in an order), and those issued by other entities (e.g. sub-national organizations).

Post-nominal letters should either be separated from the name by a comma and each set divided by a comma, or no commas should be used at all. If a baronetcy or peerage is held, then commas should always be used for consistency's sake, as the former are separated from the name by a comma.

When an individual holds a large number of post-nominal letters or seldom uses them (common among heads of state and members of royal families), they should be omitted from the lead, and the titles only described in the main body of the article.

Post-nominals for honours awarded by the United Kingdom (e.g. KCB, CBE) may be used as soon as they are gazetted; investiture is not necessary.

Formatting post-nominals

Editors should remember that the meaning of the most obvious (to them) post-nominal initials will not be obvious to some readers. When post-nominal initials are used, the meaning should be readily available to the reader. This may be via a wikilink to an article, or with the {{abbr}} template (or its underlying <abbr>...</abbr> markup) which provides a mouse-over tooltip expanding the abbreviation.

This is all most easily done using the {{post-nominals}} template:

• With commas: '''Joe Bloggs''', {{post-nominals|size=100%|sep=,|country=GBR|VC|OBE}} gives:  Joe Bloggs, VC, OBE
• Without commas: '''Joe Bloggs''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|VC|OBE}} gives:  Joe Bloggs VC OBE

This template needs the |size=100 parameter when it is used in an infobox, or its output will be too small.

At the least, use a piped link to an article with the appropriate title, e.g.:

• '''Joe Bloggs''' {{sc2|[[Victoria Cross|VC]]}} {{sc2|[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|OBE]]}} gives:  Joe Bloggs VC OBE

This ensures that readers who hover over the initials see the target article's URL as a hint and in the status bar at the bottom of the window. This manual formatting is only needed for cases where {{post-nominals}} does not handle the abbreviation in question. If there is nothing to link to, and a redlink is unlikely to result in eventual creation of an article, use the {{abbr}} template to explain the acronym. Because there is an accessibility issue with relying exclusively on such tooltip cues (touch-sensitive devices and assistive technologies generally do not utilize mouse-cursor hovering), a link is preferred when available.

Post-nominals should not be added except to a biography subject's own lead sentence, in an infobox parameter for post-nominals, when the post-nominals themselves are under discussion in the material, and in other special circumstances such as a list of recipients of an award or other honor. For example, "[[Brian Lara|Brian Lara, TC, OCC, AM]]" should not appear in an article like Warwickshire County Cricket Club.

Honorifics

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Islam-related articles § Islamic honorifics

Honorifics and styles of nobility should normally be capitalized, e.g., Her Majesty, His Holiness. They are not usually used in running text, though some may be appropriate in the lead sentence of a biographical article, as detailed below, or in a section about the person's titles and styles.

Honorific prefixes

In general, honorific prefixes – styles and honorifics in front of a name – in Wikipedia's own voice should not be included, but may be discussed in the article. In particular, this applies to:

• styles and honorifics derived from a title, position or activity, including The Most Noble, The Most Honourable, The Right Honourable, and The Honourable;
• styles and honorifics related to royalty, clergy, and sainthoods, such as His Holiness, The Reverend, Her Majesty, and The Venerable. Clergy should be named as described in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (clergy).

There are some exceptions:

• Where an honorific is so commonly attached to a name that the name is rarely found in English reliable sources without it, it should be included. For example, the honorific may be included for Mother Teresa.
• Where a female historical figure is consistently referred to using the name of her husband and her birth name is unknown. For example, an honorific may be used for "Mrs. Alfred Jones".
• The prenominals Sir, Dame, Lord and Lady are discussed in § Knighthoods, lordships, and similar honorific titles.
• In Burmese names, honorifics may be preserved if they are part of the normal form of address, even for ordinary people. See U Thant for an example.

The inclusion of some honorific prefixes and styles is controversial. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility) for use in article titles.

Knighthoods, lordships, and similar honorific titles

The honorific titles Sir, Dame, Lord and Lady are included in the initial reference and infobox heading for the subject of a biographical article, but are optional after that. The infobox heading includes pre-nominals, name and post-nominals as separate elements. The title is placed in bold in the first use of the name. Except for the initial reference and infobox, do not add honorific titles to existing instances of a person's name where they are absent, because doing so implies that the existing version is incorrect (similar in spirit to the guideline on British vs. U.S. English spelling). Similarly, honorific titles should not be deleted when they are used throughout an article unless there is consensus. Where the use of an honorific title is widely misunderstood, this can be mentioned in the article; see, for example, Bob Geldof. Honorific titles used with forenames only (such as "Sir Elton", "Sir David", "Dame Judi") should be avoided unless this form is so heavily preferred in popular usage that the use of the surname alone would render the entire name unrecognizable.

Honorary knights and dames are not entitled to "Sir" or "Dame", only the post-nominal letters. Not all non-honorary inductees into an order of chivalry are entitled to use the pre-nominal titles, either, and may receive distinct post-nominals. For example, the Order of the British Empire has five classes, each with different post-nominals; only the senior two are entitled to Sir/Dame.

Titles signifying honours awarded by the United Kingdom (i.e. Sir, Dame) may be used as soon as they are gazetted. Investiture is not necessary.

Tense

Biographies of living persons should generally be written in the present tense, and biographies of deceased persons in the past tense. When making the change upon the death of a subject, the entire article should be reviewed for consistency. If a person is living but has retired, use "is a former" or "is a retired" rather than the past tense "was".

• Correct – John Smith (1946–2003) was a baseball pitcher ...
• Correct – John Smith (born 1946) is a former baseball pitcher ...
• Incorrect – John Smith (born 1946) was a baseball pitcher ...

Historical events should be written in the past tense in all biographies:

• Smith played for the Baltimore Orioles between 1968 and 1972 ...

When discussing the work of a writer or philosopher, even if they are dead, the present tense may be used: "In his Institutes, Calvin teaches ...". The general rule is to describe statements made in literature, philosophy, and art in the eternal present. Past tense should be continue to be used for news and marketing materials, public statements, and any other quoted or paraphrased material which is not itself a subject of consideration as a lasting work: Trump controversially referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "Little Rocket Man" in a September 23, 2017 tweet. (not ... refers ...).

Out-of-date material

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers § Chronological items

It is best to avoid time-dependent statements, which can often be creatively rewritten anyway. When making any statements about current events, use the "As of" template; for example, "as of April 2011" or "in April 2011". If you're giving a precise date range from the past to the present, as with a living person's age or career, you may use the "Age" template. The article subject's age can also be calculated in the infobox.

There is no need to add "deceased" to a person's article, or those in which they are mentioned. If they have their own article, this should already be sourced. Otherwise, it is unnecessary. "Survived by" and "survivors", phrasings commonly found in obituaries, should not be used.

Order of events

In general, present a biography in chronological order, from birth to death, except where there is good reason to do otherwise. Within a single section, events should almost always be in chronological order.

Sexuality

Main page: Wikipedia:Manual of Style § Identity

See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies/Guidelines

Care should be taken to avoid placing undue weight on aspects of sexuality. The sexual preferences or activities of a person should usually not be mentioned in the article lead unless it is related to the notability of the person.

Authority control

Main page: Wikipedia:Authority control

See also: Wikipedia:ORCID

Place {{Authority control}} at the foot of biographies (immediately above {{DEFAULTSORT}}, if present). Add authority control identifiers (VIAF, ISNI, ORCID, etc) in the subject's Wikidata entry, from where they will be automatically transcluded into the template.

See also

• Wikipedia:Biography dos and don'ts (information page summarizing the key points of this guideline)
• Wikipedia:Autobiography
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography
• Wikipedia:Categorization of people
• Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)
• Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons