Mariopedia:Naming
With the multitude of subjects and popularity of the Mario franchise, it can sometimes be difficult to find the right way to name an article. Generally, the best source for naming will come from the game itself, but when subjects are not named within the actual game or the subject doesn't appear in video games at all, you may need to turn to secondary sources for an official name.
Naming an article
There are several steps to follow when naming an article:
- Mariopedia is an English language wiki, so the name of an article should correspond to the most commonly used English name of the subject, which, given our user and visitor demographics, means the North American name. For example, the North American title of "Mario Strikers Charged" takes precedence over the PAL region's "Mario Strikers Charged Football" title.
- If a subject isn't released in North America, but is released in another English-speaking region (i.e. Europe or Australia), the name they provide should be used for the article. If there is a conflict of which source to use, the region where the game was released first will have priority (i.e. the first international English name will be used).
- If there is not an available official English name, then a translation of an official non-English name is used, with Japanese taking the highest priority. For example, the bull-like fish from Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins has no official English name, but its official German and Japanese names are "Ochsenfisch" and "Mōgyo" respectively. The Japanese translation name "Moo Fish" ("Mōgyo") gets the article title. However, if an official English name is found, the article should be renamed to it.
- If a subject's name has changed over time, the more commonly used modern name should be used as the title, rather than the historic name. For example, Princess Peach's original English name was "Princess Toadstool", however, she is usually called "Princess Peach" in recent games, so the article's title is "Princess Peach".
- However in cases where the subject's name constantly changes from game to game, the name it is commonly identified as should be used as the title. For example Koopa Paratroopa is frequently referred to as "Paratroopa" (and in some cases, other names too) however, "Koopa Paratroopa" is the most well-known name so the article's title is "Koopa Paratroopa".
- If there is no official name in any language, then a conjectural title is developed if the subject is notable enough for an article. For example, the unnamed mayor of Fahr Outpost in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has been given the conjectural yet straightforward name "Fahr Outpost mayor", as he plays a role in the game's story, unlike most NPCs, which are not granted conjecturally named articles.
- When naming an article, do not use game abbreviations. (e.g. use Bully (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time) as opposed to Bully (M&L:PIT) or Bully (Partners in Time)).
- Note that this does not apply to Mario Kart console abbreviation article identifiers. See the shared titles section for more details.
Acceptable sources for naming
This is a list of acceptable sources when it comes to naming an article. If a source is not present, keep moving down the list until you have found the right way to name the article, and only create a conjectural title as a last resort.
- Name provided in-game or in the enclosed instruction manual – Ideally, the subject is named in the game itself, but whatever instruction material is enclosed with the game is also considered a primary naming source. If there is inconsistency between the manual and the game itself regarding a name, the game's version takes precedence.
- Name from a Nintendo Player's Guide, Nintendo Power magazine, or a Prima Games guide from Super Mario Galaxy-onward – A name from a Nintendo Player's Guide (also commonly known as a Nintendo Power guidebook) or a Nintendo Power issue is an acceptable alternative. For games released after 2012, this source can no longer be used since this source is currently discontinued. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the last game in the Mario series to be covered by Nintendo Power. After Nintendo Power's sales to Future Publishing in 2007, Nintendo of America signed an exclusive agreement with publisher Prima Games for the rights to official English Nintendo strategy guides. As such, Prima guides released starting with Super Mario Galaxy are considered to occupy the same tier of officiality as Nintendo Power.
- Name from a pre-Super Mario Galaxy Prima Games Strategy Guide or any other third-party guide – A name from an officially-licensed Prima Games Strategy Guide (when they were published concurrently with Nintendo Power) is also an acceptable alternative, though in case of contradictions, the Nintendo Power name takes priority. This also applies to other official third-party guides by companies such as Bradygames. For Japanese names, guides published by Shogakukan (Nintendo's official guidebook licensee) take priority over other publications.
- Name used in officially licensed media – A name from any officially Nintendo-licensed non-video game media source. This includes cartoons, movies, magazines, comics and web content. Like games, North American media names get priority, followed by the first international English name and finally, the first non-English source.
- Development name – Any name used during the development of a video game or other Nintendo-licensed media source. This type of name usually comes from unused data, developer interviews or development documents.
- Name derived from a file name on an officially hosted website – A name from an image file on an official website, such as Play Nintendo, or game promotion websites in general. As file names are not directly shown to users of websites, the names of image files do not need to follow proper naming conventions. This can lead to names with typos or other oddities. Should an alternate name for a subject originate from a file name, it should be mentioned in {{internal names}} or as trivia.
Please note that regardless of the source, the official North American name takes priority, followed by the first international English name if no North American name is available, and finally the first international non-English name if no English name is known. For example, if a subject is given a name in-game in the Japanese version only, and not in the English localization of the game, but an English strategy guide names it, that English name is used, rather than the Japanese.
Please also note that general and lengthy descriptions of a subject that are clearly not intended as the subject's name are not suitable sources for the article's title. For example, while straightforward titles like "giant spike block" are fine, if the object is described as a "large block with spikes" or "the block with spikes on them", that should not be the name of the article.
English and non-English sources
English regions on Mariopedia are defined as regions where the games are officially released in the English language, and commonly includes the American, European, and Australian regions. Non-English sources on Mariopedia are defined as regions where games are not officially released in the English language (but which are released in one or more other languages). English sources generally have priority over non-English sources, with non-English titles only being used when no official English name is available. The region where the game was released first provides the name, meaning Japanese is often used for the title.
Japanese
- See also: Mariopedia:Japanese
Rather than using the actual Japanese characters, we use romanizations, such as Itsunomanika Heihō (for 「いつのまにかヘイホー」) or Unibō (for 「ウニボー」). However, if a Japanese word is itself a transliteration of an English word, simply use the original English word. Similarly, names that were transcribed slightly differently from the proper romanization when the games were translated from Japanese to English should use those official transcriptions (i.e. "Yosshī"/"Yossy" and "Kuppa" should be written as "Yoshi" and "Koopa", respectively). Therefore, 「ヨッシーのクッキー クルッポンオーブンでクッキー」 is given the title Yoshi no Cookie: Kuruppon Oven de Cookie, even though the direct romanization is "Yosshī no Kukkī: Kuruppon Ōbun de Kukkī"; another example is 「スーパーマリオ 不思議のころころパーティ」, which is romanized as "Sūpā Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Pāti", but given the article name Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party to reflect how users instinctively want to refer to the familiar words in the title. However, if the word is part of a compound, leave it as the original Japanese, as a partial translation would just look awkward, rather than instinctual; for example, Kaibādo (「カイバード」) is not changed to "Kaibird".
There are some subjects that have the same Japanese name but are differently named in English. In such cases, the articles must be split according to their English name unless it is evident that they are the same subject. This is because the wiki goes by how English-speaking audiences perceive which subjects are the same and which are different.
Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia
While citing the non-English translations of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia is acceptable, citing the English version is not. Shortly after the English release of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia, it was discovered that one of the translators working on the book had taken conjectural and foreign names from fan websites such as the Super Mario Wiki and Fandom's MarioWiki.[1] In addition, the English translation of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia had also made numerous other inaccuracies and errors relating to various pieces of information (e.g. Wiggler being misspelled as "Wriggler" during some sections referencing them, Montys erroneously being called Monty Moles, the Wiggler in Super Mario 64 being treated as a standard enemy despite being a boss in that game, etc).
Mario Portal
Like with the English Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia, the English version of the Mario Portal website has also been proven to be an illegitimate source for enemy names due to misnaming most enemies. Examples of the ways that the Mario Portal mislabeled certain enemies include naming the enemies off of names that were not used the game they appeared in or any other supplementary material related to the game (e.g. Multiple Super Mario Galaxy enemies and some enemies from Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins being referred to with generic names), ignoring names for certain enemies and bosses that were said in-game (e.g. Fiery Dino Piranha and Octopus from Super Mario Galaxy being mislabeled as "Dino Piranha (Black)" and "Rocto" respectively despite having names that were said in-game), or flat out calling an enemy using the name of an entirely separate species regardless of if they are a part of the same family or not (e.g. Monty being erroneously called Rocky Wrench despite not being related to them, or Prickly Piranha Plant being erroneously called Spiny Piranha Plant despite being two separate species of Piranha Plant). Like the English translation of the Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia, the Mario Portal has also taken certain names from fan websites such as the Super Mario Wiki (e.g. Swoopin' Stu being mislabeled as "Gooble," which was the name that the Super Mario Wiki had labeled Swoopin' Stu from February 2015-March 2019 due to erroneously assuming that the Gooble name found in the scoreboard of Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour was referring to this enemy, despite the fact that the Gooble name was simply just a generic name that had no correlation to Swoopin' Stu), making the website even more untrustworthy.
If an official name was given from a more creditable source as well as the English version of the Mario Portal (such as Ant and Masked Ghoul), the Mario Portal source can be removed and the other source for the name can be used instead. Additionally, any species connections unintentionally stated by the English translation of the Mario Portal and nowhere else should not be used as proof for one species being in the same family as another due to the unreliability of the website making it likely that these were simply just misnames of the enemies (such as Monty being erroneously called Rocky Wrench despite the Undergunt species having no connection to the Monty Mole family).
Conjectural names
Any name from a source not covered above is considered unofficial and conjectural. Generally, conjecturally named subjects don't have articles because they are either not noteworthy enough to have an article or don't have much information to cover. However, subjects that are detailed and noteworthy enough to have articles still have to adhere to certain guidelines.
Conjectural names are usually decided upon by the users of Mariopedia or commonly used names by the Mario community. When deciding on a name, the name must be simple yet accurate. For example, the article Bat has a simple yet accurate title. A name like Dark Evil Bat is not acceptable because it is not simple and has an inaccurate description.
A specific rule applies to the planets in Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel. The planets don't have official names, but conjectural names are given to them by our users to help identify each planet. However, there are some rules to name them: The name must be clear and straightforward, explaining in one word or two which planet is it talking about. Names must be professional. The first planet must always be named "Starting Planet". {{conjectural}} must be used to denote the names are not official. Official planet names, like Starshroom don't abide by these rules.
Name changes
In certain cases, names may be changed because the old name is replaced with a newer name. A popular example of this is how Bloober was changed to Blooper. In these cases, the newer name will replace the older one with certain exceptions. Exceptions include naming errors, translation errors, and use of aliases/nicknames. For example, if the Prima strategy guide incorrectly names Crowbers as Crows, Crowber will still be the article name. It is up to the users to find and determine what the naming errors, translation errors, and use of aliases/nicknames are. When mentioning subjects whose names have changed overtime, the newest name generally takes greater priority, except in the context of older media where they went by previous names, in which case those are used instead.
Capitalization
The words in the title must be capitalized the same way they are from the source, unless it is a proper noun. Proper nouns are capitalized no matter how it is in the source. The wiki software makes it so that the first letter of the title is capitalized regardless. Exceptions to the proper noun rule can be made if there is some special reason why the proper noun is uncapitalized. Also, words that aren't proper nouns in conjectural titles should not be capitalized (like Peach's frying pan).
Italics
Italics are used in main and gallery namespace page titles in the same way that they are used in text. This includes cases where parentheses are used in the article title, such as World 1-1 (New Super Mario Bros. 2). Adding italics can be accomplished using the {{italic title}} template. To italicize the full title (such as for games), use:
{{italic title}}
For partial italics, use the desired title as a parameter:
{{italic title|List of ''Super Mario Galaxy'' staff}}
Either line of code should be placed at the very top of the page without any blank or empty lines following it. It's not necessary to make this change to talk pages.
It is possible to come across a subject which shares the same title as another subject, in which case identifiers must be used to show which one of the same-named subjects is covered in each page. If there is one subject that is clearly more popular than the others, the popular subject will keep the original title while the others use identifiers. For example, the game gets the Luigi's Mansion name, whereas the building's article is Luigi's Mansion (location). If the subjects are equally likely to be linked to or searched for, both articles are given identifiers while the plain subject title is made into a disambiguation page (marked with {{disambig}}). For example, Super Mario is a disambiguation page linking to all the other uses of the title, such as Super Mario (series) and Super Mario (form). If there are five or more pages sharing the same name, a disambiguation page must be used, although it may be given a "(disambiguation)" qualifier if one of the articles has the plain title. For example, the article Bowser's Castle is about Bowser's home, whereas Bowser's Castle (disambiguation) also links to other uses of the name, such as the game board and baseball stadium. Game series articles always get a series identifier regardless of whether or not the title is shared, such as Mario Kart (series). When disambiguation pages are used, the articles should only link to them in {{about}} when necessary, but if a disambiguation page is not used, the articles can merely link to the other same-named page.
Another instance when an identifier should be used is for distinguishing identically named subjects within different franchises. For instance, there is a subject named Key in both the Mario franchise and The Legend of Zelda franchise, but they serve a different purpose and are from a different franchise. In this case, we would create "Key" as a disambiguation article, describe its general purpose, and add a link to Key (Mario franchise) and Key (The Legend of Zelda franchise) respectively. This may also apply within the scope of the main Mario franchise itself: for example, there can be a disambiguation page for "Rope" that links to Rope (Mario franchise) and Rope (Donkey Kong franchise) for the Mario and Donkey Kong franchises, respectively. If there is an identically named subject applying to only the overall Mario franchise and a related franchise, an identifier should only apply to the latter (e.g. Barrel covers the subject within the Mario franchise whereas Barrel (The Legend of Zelda franchise) covers its appearance in the The Legend of Zelda franchise.
Determining the identifier
If an identifier is needed, the text in parentheses is determined by:
- What type of thing it is (e.g. level, game, character, tennis court). For example, Dribble & Spitz (souvenir) is correct.
- The identifier "course" is preferred to be used for Super Mario 64-type courses, whereas for something like a golf course, the more-specific "golf course" is used.
- Location identifiers start out specific but may become more generalized before moving to scenario two. For example, Waluigi Pinball (court) uses the less-specific "court" rather than something like "basketball court" because multiple sports can be played there.
- The identifier "character" is used when differentiating a character from non-character(s) which share the same name (e.g. Ninja (character)). If a character shares the same name as another character, the title of the game or series they appear in is used (e.g. Lily (Paper Mario)). If a character name is used more than once within the same game, a species or custom identifier is used (e.g. Slim (Pixl)).
- If the same type of thing shares the same name across multiple games, use each game title as the identifiers. For example, World 1-1 (New Super Mario Bros. 2) and World 1-1 (New Super Mario Bros. Wii) are both levels from different games. We cannot use "World 1-1 (level)" because we need to differentiate between games.
- If the subject of the article appears in multiple games in one series, use the series name plus the word "series" instead of a game name as the identifier if the topic(s) of the other article(s) are from different series (e.g. Block Star (Mario Party series)).
- If two different games share the same title but appear on different consoles and the identifier needs to distinguish between them, the game name and console are used in this format: ({game name} for {console}). For example, Beach Volleyball (Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games for Wii).
- If the same type of thing shares the same name across multiple games and that name is also used for multiple things within one game, use the game title followed by the type of thing as the identifier. For example, Ghost (Wario Land II enemy). If this scenario occurs, then the other thing which shares the name in the same game should also include the game title (e.g. Ghost (Wario Land II boss)).
- If multiple subjects in a shared appearance are the same type of thing, a distinguishing feature that differs between them may be used instead. For example, Chap (green) and Chap (blue) are both characters in Super Paper Mario.
Technical restrictions
It is entirely possible for subjects to have titles that are restricted due to MediaWiki software limitations. For this reason, if an article has a title which is technically restricted, then the article should be located at another title that closely matches the correct title as much as possible, and {{DISPLAYTITLE}}
be used to correct title headers. For example, the first castle level in Super Mario World, "#1 Iggy's Castle", is instead located at 1 Iggy's Castle, as the "#
" symbol will redirect readers back to the main page.