One Piece Wiki:Guidebook/Page Naming Guidelines

This policy covers what kinds of names are to be used on the wiki and how they are to be spelled.

Naming Guidelines

 * In order for a subject to receive an article on this wiki, it must be given a name by an official source. Canon sources like the manga and databooks are preferred for canon subject names, but non-canon sources like the anime may be used if a canon subject is only named there.
 * Specific and formal character titles, like Minister of the Right and Eggplant Soldier, may be used in place of the character's name if the name is unknown and the title is given by an official source.
 * We do not use fanmade names, no matter how prevalent they are. We also do not use informal titles such as "Gaburu's grandmother".
 * An article title for a character should use their full given name. For example, Law's page is titled Trafalgar D. Water Law rather than Trafalgar Law.
 * Character page titles will always use the character's real name, even if they are better known by an alias. Aliases are only used if the character's real name is unknown.
 * Note that this only applies to the page name; if the character is currently operating under a well-known alias, they should generally be referred to by their alias in their article.
 * If a character changes their name, their article title will be changed to their new name, regardless of whether other characters call them by that name. Examples of characters with changed names include Franky, Portgas D. Ace and Sanji.
 * Article names will only be based off the name a character is directly given, and nothing more. Thus, if they are only introduced or referred to by a given name, their article title will be just their given name, even if they are related to a character with a surname. Some exceptions have been made to this, but must be discussed first.

Articles with the Same Name
There are several subjects in the series that have the same name. Here is how to title the pages of these subjects.
 * Characters receive the most priority for the ambiguous article title over other subjects. For example, the Beasts Pirates member Queen gets the Queen page title while the page for the position of queen is at the disambiguated Queen (Title). The only exception is if a character shares their name with a more abstract concept that would be difficult to disambiguate, such as Race (Character) and Race.
 * As an extension, in-universe subjects receive priority over out-of-universe subjects they share their name with. For example, the One Piece article covers the fictional legendary treasure, while the series this wiki is based on is covered in One Piece (Manga) and One Piece (Anime).
 * If one character has a more significant part in the story than the other, or one is canon and the other is not, then the more major/canon character gets the ambiguous page name. For example, the fish-man and Revolutionary member Hack gets the ambiguous title because of his larger role in the story compared to Hack (Archaeologist) whose page name is disambiguated.
 * If the subjects have about equal importance, and there is a decent chance that readers could search for either one at an equal frequency, all of their titles should be disambiguated and the ambiguous title should be redirected to a disambiguation page.
 * When it comes to disambiguating page names, try to follow these steps:
 * If a non-canon subject shares their name with a canon subject, their page should be titled " (Non-Canon)"
 * If one character is a human and the other character is an animal, the more minor character should be disambiguated by their species, such as Tama (Sphinx).
 * If there are multiple characters with the same name, same canonicity, and same species, they should next be disambiguated by their occupation. The occupation name should be broad, unless multiple characters have the same general occupation. For example, the pages for the three human characters named Billy are titled Billy (Bandit), Billy (Cook), and Billy (Pirate).
 * If the character(s) have no occupation, have the same occupation as the subjects they share their name with, or their occupation is incredibly minor and would not be easily recognizable, their page title should be disambiguated by their residence, such as Tsuru (Wano).
 * If two characters have the same given name, and one of them has a surname while the other character has just their given name, the latter character's page title will simply be the ambiguous given name, with a link to the former character at the top of the page. Sora and Vinsmoke Sora are examples of these.

Name Spellings
Since One Piece is a Japanese series and this is an English wiki, problems may arise when transliterating names as there may be multiple transliterations that can possibly be used.

While English has a variety of letters and letter combinations that make the same sound as another, this is not the case in Japanese. Thus, it may not be clear whether to spell a name with an S or a soft C, or with a U or OO. Certain Japanese sounds can refer to multiple English sounds, the most notable of which is Japanese having the same character for L and R sounds. It may also be difficult to tell if a name should have multiple consonants in a row, because this is rarely the case in Japanese.

For examples of characters' names being spelled differently because of different spelling choices, see Name Variants.

Direct Romanization
The easiest way to know how a name is spelled in English is if it is written in English characters in the Japanese manga, SBS, or databooks. This is referred to as romanization, which is not to be confused with a name being written in romaji. Romanizations can usually be identified by being written in big block letters with text being written over it, but when in doubt, wait for a raw Japanese to be released to confirm that the text was not edited by a translator. Names on bounty posters will always be romanized. If a name is officially written out in English characters, we will use that name, regardless of whether or not the official translations use it and whether or not it is the most popular version. This does not usually apply to names that are only romanized in the anime, as it is made by Toei Animation, though it should be implemented for filler names.

It is important to note that since Oda does not speak English, his romanizations have not always been consistent. If there is a discrepancy in romanization, the most common one or the most recent one will usually be used. The wiki will follow its canon hierarchy when determining name romanizations: Original Manga > SBS > Databooks > Anime. In the case of romanization discrepancy on the same medium, it is advised that it be discussed on the page bearing the name in question.

Good Sources

 * Names that appear in the manga.
 * Names revealed in a SBS
 * Names revealed by the Databooks
 * In the case of filler characters, if their name is revealed in the episode/movie/game in Latin text, use that.

Bad Sources

 * Shonen Jump magazine. There have been reports of mistakes made in the past and confusions with character polls.
 * Merchandise based names, which have been noted to use incorrect and misspelled names in the past.
 * Game spellings. Examples exist such as "Flanky" and "Lobin" when the correct names should have been "Franky" and "Robin".
 * Anime spellings. Notably even well established names can end up being misspelled (Example; during the Water 7 arc "Nico Robines" can be seen on a wanted poster instead of "Nico Robin").

Transliteration
If a name is not romanized, the wiki will look at the raw manga and determine the most accurate transliteration, which is defined as transcribing the Japanese word into corresponding English letters. We will use the most accurate name regardless of how popular it is and whether or not the official translation uses it. The official English translations tend to translate names that are Japanese words, which the wiki does not usually do as names for things such as characters, locations, and attacks are rarely translated. If there are multiple possible accurate name spellings, the wiki will use the most popular one. For more information about using Japanese names as opposed to translating them into English, see Japanese vs. English Names.

When it comes to transliterating names, the wiki uses the Romaji format instead of Roumaji or Rōmaji (note the differences on writing the "o"). This means that long vowels like Ō and Ū will be spelled as simply O and U rather than OU and UU. The only exception is if the word is directly romanized as such, such as Hyouzou or Zou.

With the manga, fan scanlations usually come out before the raws and the official translation; the wiki knows which scanlations are accurate and will use those translations unless they are proven inaccurate. The official manga translation by VIZ Media is given no preference compared to scanlations, as all translations will be assessed for accuracy; as mentioned above, the wiki often differs from the official translation when it comes to translating names. This is not the case for the subbed anime, as the official translation is released for free on Crunchyroll not long after an episode first airs, though editors should still of course be discerning when determining names from the anime. While English fansubs are rare now, they are still prevalent in older episodes that are not hosted on Crunchyroll. The other types of One Piece media such as volumes, databooks, video games, etc. are similar to the manga in that they are often translated by fans before raw versions are released. The wiki will usually use these fan translations unless they are evidently inaccurate or later proven to be so, and will give preference to fan translators who have provided reliable information in the past.

All of these rules have exceptions, and the wiki has made some exceptions for certain names, but these exceptions can only be made after the community discusses and agrees to them.

If you do not have a solid grasp of reading and understanding Japanese, please do not attempt to dictate a name spelling. Voice your concern about the spelling on the talk page, ask users who know Japanese (such as Klobis) on their talk pages, or just simply wait for users who have a firm grasp of Japanese to decide on how the name should be spelled. Be prepared to justify any name changes you might make on this wiki.