Article titles

[Nittanian]

I am interested in the policy for titling articles, since many articles have unnecessary parentheses in their titles, IMO. AWOIAF follows the standards of Wikipedia, whose official policy is "Article titles should be recognizable to readers, unambiguous, and consistent with usage in reliable English-language sources." It is often simplified to use the most common and recognizable names (the "WP:COMMONNAME" policy). The texts of ASOIAF and D&E, the Primary Canon, are the reliable English-language sources for us. The terminology used in GRRM's works is the usage most familiar to the wiki's userbase. Although there are occasional mistakes in the appendices of ASOIAF (e.g. Eggen instead of Ebben), their content would seem to indicate GRRM's preferred terminology.

Since noble characters usually have a straightforward "given name, house name" structure, they are easier to title. Smallfolk are where many of articles are titled in awkwardly, IMO. The character Garth of Greenaway is one of the mutineers at Craster's. In the appendix of ADWD, he is listed as "GARTH OF GREENAWAY", not "GARTH of Greenaway". While his given name is Garth, GRRM is identifying the character to the reader as "Garth of Greenaway". In the text of ASOS he is usually mentioned as Garth of Greenaway or Garth Greenaway. However, AWOIAF had his article titled under "Garth (Greenaway)". Small Paul is listed in the appendix of ASOS as "SMALL PAUL" and is usually referred to by that name in ASOS, but his article was listed as "Paul". Garth's co-conspirator Muttering Bill is mentioned once in the body of ASOS and then in the appendices, all times with Muttering as part of GRRM's designation, but his article was simply titled "Bill".

The appendices shouldn't be used exclusively for titles, but they are a good starting point. An example of an exception is to not include professions and honorifics (lord, ser, king, maester, etc.) in titles, which is already in practice. Nestor Royce is listed as "LORD NESTOR ROYCE" in the ADWD appendix, but his article is appropriately titled "Nestor Royce" rather than "Lord Nestor Royce". Similarly, Maester Colemon is printed as "MAESTER COLEMON", but his article is understandably titled as simply "Colemon".

There are plenty of characters who are not included in the appendices, however. In those cases, their articles should be titled the way they are most commonly referred to within the books. Taking the ghost of High Heart's "Jenny" as an example, it would seem to me that her article should be listed under "Jenny of Oldstones", the designation that GRRM often uses and is most recognizable to the reader, rather than "Jenny (Oldstones)". "(Oldstones)" was included to differentiate Jenny of Oldstones from another Jenny, "Jenny (Penny)". That article begins by stating:

Jenny, better known as Penny Jenny, and later known as Redgrass Jenny, was a whore.

In The Mystery Knight, GRRM most frequently refers to her as "Penny Jenny". If she is better known as Penny Jenny instead of simply Jenny, then "Penny Jenny" should be the article's title, not "Jenny (Penny)". "Jenny" should be a disambiguation page linking to "Jenny of Oldstones" and "Penny Jenny".

A similar smallfolk case is Blushing Bethany from AFFC:

Bethany, better known as Blushing Bethany, is a prostitute at the Happy Port whorehouse in Braavos.

Her article is currently titled "Bethany (Blushing Bethany)".

There are numerous Pates in the series. In ASOS, Tom Sevenstrings lists "Pate of Mory, Pate of Lancewood, Old Pate, and Pate of Shermer's Grove" as victims of the Lannisters. It seems unnecessary to have their corresponding articles at "Pate (Mory)", "Pate (Lancewood)", "Pate (Old)", and "Pate (Shermer's Grove)", as GRRM is giving us P-Canon phrasing which already differentiates.

TL;DR - Articles should be titled according to how GRRM designates the topic, when available. Parenthetical disambiguation should be reserved for situations in which articles would otherwise have the same title, such as the numerous Brandon Starks.

[Winterz]

I only read the TL;DR. Look, while there isn't any official policy stating this, naming article is done like in Wikipedia. Name or (in case there is no known name) whatever known alias goes as title. Now situations where we have a name and aliases and the article also happens to share its name with another, it becomes disambiguation and there it's better suited to dissimilate the articles by providing info (that makes one article distinguish itself from the other) into brackets following the name in the title.

For example, imagine two Roys, one from ASOIAF and other from THK (The Hedge Knight), and in this situation none is given any more aliases or anything else to recognize them. Here, we undoubtly have to procceed with the brackets (naming it Roy (The Hedge Knight)) case so given this likely situation, we rather apply it alike to cases where aliases or surnames are provided in order to avoid too much diversity.

[Nittanian]

I only read the TL;DR. Look, while there isn't any official policy stating this, naming article is done like in Wikipedia. Name or (in case there is no known name) whatever known alias goes as title. Now situations where we have a name and aliases and the article also happens to share its name with another, it becomes disambiguation and there it's better suited to dissimilate the articles by providing info (that makes one article distinguish itself from the other) into brackets following the name in the title.

For example, imagine two Roys, one from ASOIAF and other from THK (The Hedge Knight), and in this situation none is given any more aliases or anything else to recognize them. Here, we undoubtly have to procceed with the brackets (naming it Roy (The Hedge Knight)) case so given this likely situation, we rather apply it alike to cases where aliases or surnames are provided in order to avoid too much diversity.

I agree with this - "Roy (A Clash of Kings)" and "Roy (The Hedge Knight)" are satisfactory titles if we have no other detailed information about them. However, if GRRM hypothetically writes, "Ser Whosit met Roy of Happytown and Roy the Daring", their articles should be titled "Roy of Happytown" and "Roy the Daring" (the terminology used by GRRM), rather than "Roy (Happytown)" and "Roy (the Daring)".

In ASOS-Arya VI, Tom Sevenstrings lists "Pate of Mory, Pate of Lancewood, Old Pate, and Pate of Shermer's Grove" as victims of the Lannisters. It seems unnecessary to have their corresponding articles at "Pate (Mory)", "Pate (Lancewood)", "Pate (Old)", and "Pate (Shermer's Grove)", as GRRM is using phrasing which already disambiguates.