Forum:Naming standards

The first is the standardization of more things here such as a standard language/naming rule argued by others users voting on names of places and sometimes people, and I ignored at the time. Should it be the popular and most common names whether that is Westron or Elvish or simply just the Elvish names all together?--DarkLantern 07:39, July 2, 2011 (UTC)


 * In my (1999 edition) Tolkien Companion, the name used for the character or place is the name used by most often by Tolkien himself, regardless of language. I explained on another wiki the way in which using by using a variety of invented languages, authors can create depth. For example, I live in what was originally a Viking settlement, hence being equipped with an Old Norse name. The nearest settlement to this day has an Anglo-Saxon name and if I were to keep going, I would soon arrive at Norman and Roman settlements. So let's go for the most common, as used by the Professor himself rather than removing the diversity by just using Elvish.--Wyvern Rex 08:40, July 2, 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree with you about using the most common names as the new standard. The question now is where do we go from here. I propose we keep this new proposed change limited to the members of the community (regular contributors and administrators), the trouble is that there is so very few of them (you and I). The only others might be User:Zeta1127,89thLegion and maybe User:Echobrand. The only available administrators besides myself are User:TheGreyPilgrim and User:Robin Patterson the others are either retired, unavailable, or not interested in the wiki anymore.--DarkLantern 09:00, July 3, 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, let's keep it to the regulars. I will see what I can do with Eregion later.--Wyvern Rex. 13:45, July 3, 2011 (UTC)

Soon, I am going to organize a discussion forum for that standardization of names issue we talked about. I plan to have it include myself, User:TheGreyPilgrim (hopefully he will respond), User:Robin Patterson, User:Razor77 (I'll send a note to him but he may be unavailable), and yourself. There are no other regulars in my book because I consider a regular to a person who shows up one to two weeks, more or less. Knowing that, I might be willing to include User:Zeta1127,89thLegion in it but no other seems to be regular. If you have any other ideas, please contact me.--DarkLantern 11:40, July 6, 2011 (UTC)

I have had an idea for weeks now on how to bring more standardized rules here. My thoughts on this grew out of User:KingAragorn’s critique of this wiki and from that came my belief that there needs to be more established and concrete standards here. Both User:Wyvern Rex. and myself have agreed that one of them should be the issue involving place names. This new standard will mean that all the names of places will be in one particular language and we both believe that they should all be known by their common or most popular name, whether that is Elvish or Westron. Question is which one? I believe it should be the most common one. I intend that this decision should be open only to active administrators and regulars, unfortunately Wyvern Rex and perhaps just one or two others are regular. See User talk:Wyvern Rex. and my talk page for more information on this matter and when the others know about it, I will create a forum for discussion on this matter. Send me your thoughts on this.--DarkLantern 01:00, July 13, 2011 (UTC)


 * From what I've read of the legendarium, the most popular language for place names is Sindarin. I'd advise using that as the default language for place names. I'd say it's your choice though, ultimately.--TheGreyPilgrim 01:07, July 13, 2011 (UTC)

I've commented on the latest merger proposal. I don't generally support deletions on a growing wiki but I seldom object. If you tell me where to find "standardization of place names here and whether they should be the most popular and well known names or the Elvish names" I'll look at it; I couldn't find it in a comprehensive search.-- Robin Patterson (Talk) 05:09, July 21, 2011 (UTC)

User:Robin Patterson asked me where to find "standardization" of place names at. In short, he is asking for more evidence of these issues from more official sources. Well, I have been looking over the index of my copy of The Lord of the Rings and I have observed several things and most of the time it references the places by their most common names. For example, when you look up Ered Luin it says see: Blue Mountains the same goes for the Ered Nimrais (White Mountains). When you look up Mountains of Shadows it says see: (Ephel Dúath), inferring that that is its common name. The Ered Gorgoroth over the Mountains of Terror. However, it does not say see: Grey Mountains when looking for the Ered Mithrin it just has them listed separately.

I'm not using this as a completely solid argument I am just saying I believe the standard here should be a combination of what places are most commonly known as and the translated to English names.--DarkLantern 08:39, July 21, 2011 (UTC)