Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (anglicization)
Please discuss naming issues here that relate to the use of Anglicized spelling/name vs. Ethnically "correct" spelling/name of articles. A central wikipedia naming convention is to use the Anglicized form in almost every situation for articles in the English wikipedia. Alternate names/spellings should be mentioned in the first line of the anglicized article and redirected to that article.
Moved from talk:Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
Look. Unless you are a native Dutch speaker AND an historical authority, please leave the spelling of his name alone. The man was Dutch, and the Dutch biologists spell his name Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.
-- dja
Is there a rule in English about the spelling of the preposition 'van' in a name?
In Dutch it is 'Frank de Boer', but 'de voetbalspeler De Boer' (de voetbalspeler means 'the football player'). In other words, when the preposition is preceded and followed by respectively the first and last name, it starts with a small letter, else it starts with a capital.
What's the rule for an Irish name like O'Reilly, for instance?--branko
As for the the rule for Dutch, there isn't one. We just try to follow spelling the person used himself. It doesn't change by position. --rmhermen
Just for fun, when I was in school in an English-speaking country, we called him Anton. It may well be Anton in English. Also, would one ever see 'de voetbalspeler DeBoer'? After all, we would then have to ask if they were talking about Frank or his brother Ronnie ;-) JHK
--- Look. Unless you are a native Dutch speaker AND an historical authority, please leave the spelling of his name alone. The man was Dutch, and the Dutch biologists spell his name Antoni van Leeuwenhoek.
- Look, I have been a biology student for the last 6 years in an English speaking country and just graduated. In that time, I only once saw Anton's name spelt differently. In that case it was spelt Anontie and that was in parenthesis after the correct English spelling.
- This is the English wikipedia - You are free to spell his name "Antoni" or "Antonie" or "Antony" (all valid alternates) on the Dutch wikipedia. We are talking about a period of history where many people's names still did not have set spellings.
- I will not change over the article until tomorrow (February 26th) to give the Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and other English speakers to chim in. Just to make sure "Anton" is not a uniquely American spelling. ---maveric149
- Dear dja -- does teaching the Scientific Revolution count for having a right to speak?? I was certainly not saying that Antoni was incorrect -- only that I believe the name was something else in English. We've had similar discussions for the correct nomenclature in other languages, and the name that wins out is the one most commonly recognized by English speakers (as maveric was saying...). There are many names that just aren't used in English, or are used by contemporary scholars, but not by those of 20 or more years ago. We have to find a midpoint. My own research (as opposed to teaching) specialty is Carolingian history. When I think of the "main characters" I think of them as Karl der Grosse, Ludwig der Fromme, etc., because I tend to read more scholarship in German than in French. When I write on the wikipedia, however, I use the Anglicized French names, because that's what is the norm for English. Why is there a problem with trying to find out what the proper English name is, using that name, and putting the Correct Dutch in the first line? JHK