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.

Article Names
Before an article about a subject can be made, this subject must be given a distinct name from official One Piece media. It is preferable that canon subjects receive names from canon sources such as the manga, SBS, and databooks, but sources like the anime may be used if a name is only given there. No articles with conjectural or fan-made names may be created on this wiki. Even if the subject is named, it may receive a subsection on another page rather than its own page if it is deemed too minor for an article of sufficient length to be written.

Articles for characters will only use the name they are directly given; for example, if a character is only called by their first name, their page will only contain their first name, even if they are related to a character with a surname. Exceptions are occasionally made, but must be discussed first.

Characters with Multiple Names
Some characters in the series have multiple names. Most of the time, they should be called by their full real names. Characters with codenames or nicknames should not be referred to as such on their articles unless their real name is unknown, even if the codename is more well-known than their actual name. For example, Miss Doublefinger's page is called Zala. However, this only explicitly applies to the character's name and information on their own article; they should be referred to by their codename on summaries and history sections where they operate under said name.

The only instance in which a character's birth name is not used is if they discard it in favor of a new one, such as Portgas D. Ace. This is not to be confused with hiding a name or parts of it; as even though Law goes by Trafalgar Law most of the time, his article is still titled Trafalgar D. Water Law because he never discarded that name. If a character's full name is only partially revealed, it should not be used, such as in Long Long's case.

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.