Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ethnicities and tribes)

"WP:ETHNICGROUPS" redirects here. For the wikiproject concerning ethnic groups, see WP:WikiProject Ethnic groups.

This guideline contains conventions on how to name Wikipedia articles about peoples, ethnicities, and tribes. It should be read in conjunction with Wikipedia's general policy on article naming. This guideline explains how to handle cases where this format is not obvious, or for one reason or other is not followed.

General conventions and disambiguation

See also: WP:NCL § Languages and their speakers

There are several acceptable conventions for naming articles about ethnic groups. When deciding how to name such an article, consider the article title criteria. In general, the common English-language term for an ethnic group should be used. In many cases, the most concise title will be a plural demonym, e.g. Bretons or Swedes. Note that in some cases, the common plural form is a mass noun that is the same as the singular form, as with Batak, Cherokee, or Wodaabe.

In cases where no plural demonym exists, or where that demonym is ambiguous and not the primary topic, other forms can be used. The most common method of disambiguation is to add "people" to the end of the common singular form to create natural disambiguation, e.g. Chinese people (as Chinese is ambiguous). In articles describing multiple ethnic groups, "peoples" is pluralized, for example, Austronesian peoples. In some cases, parenthetical disambiguation will be necessary, especially when there are more than one ethnic group that share a name. Add a distinguishing term in parentheses after the common name. For example, Gavião (Jê) and Gavião (Rondônia) distinguish the two peoples from each other and other topics named Gavião.

Examples of use on the English Wikipedia are provided below:

Pattern	Examples
Plural demonym	Koreans · Germans · Swedes · Arab Canadians
Mass noun demonyms	British Chinese · Iyer · Navajo
Adjectival with "people"	French people · Wauja people
Adjectival with "peoples"	Circumpolar peoples · Turkic peoples
Parenthetical disambiguation	Macedonians (ethnic group)

Terms to watch

Tribes

Native American and Indigenous Canadian groups are defined primarily by citizenship. It is not a racial designation. The term "tribe" or "tribal nation" is only appropriate in Wikipedia titles if that is the official name for the group in question. Follow the naming conventions used in quality, well-sourced articles, and in the sources produced by the people, tribe, band, or nation in question. For instance:

• Use the proper name of the tribal government, e.g. Seminole Tribe of Florida, Cowichan Tribes, or Spirit Lake Tribe. As proper names, titles should be capitalized.
• Cases where sources use "tribe" in an ethnographic sense to mean a sub-group of a wider ethnicity, and the disambiguation options above are not commonly used or appropriate, such as the Nochiya tribe of Assyrian Christians.
• Cases where sources always call the group a "tribe", e.g. the Tribe of Naphtali of the ancient Hebrews.
• Do not add Nation onto a name for a group of people, unless that term is part of their official title, for instance, the Cherokee Nation. See US Native tribes (Lower 48) and Alaska Native tribes.
• For ethnic group articles, the standard is to use their common name or their common name plus people, such as Cowlitz people.
• Because the term is used in the official names for sovereign tribal nations, it can be considered offensive to use "tribe" for recent groupings of unrelated individuals, such as social clubs or sports teams.

Reservations and reserves

• For Indigenous communities or sovereign territories, use the term the community calls themselves, such as "reservation" (U.S.), "reserve" (Canada), "Indigenous region"/comarcas indígenas (Panama), or "Indigenous Territory"/Terra Indígena (Brazil). For instance, the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, or the Blue Quills First Nation Indian Reserve.
• Note that tribal nations and reservations are not necessarily the same thing. For instance, some tribal nations like the Tohono Oʼodham Nation have multiple reservations, meaning that separate articles might cover each reservation as well as for the tribal nation itself. For an article that covers both, defer to official tribal sources when deciding which name to use.
• In the Great Basin the term colony and in California rancheria might refer to a federally recognized tribe or its land base. These terms will appear in the formal name of the federally recognized tribe; however, reservation is appropriate for discussing the lands legally controlled by these nations.

Naming conventions: Native, Indigenous, Indian, etc

• "Native American" and "Indian" are capitalized when referring to individuals and their citizenship. Numerous style guides state that "Indigenous" should also be capitalized, though this position has not gained consensus on Wikipedia, but it has been adopted by WikiProject Indigenous peoples of the Americas and WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America. Though Indigenous identities are not racial, they are usually treated with the same guidelines as ethnic and racial terms. Here are some style guides and reporter's guidelines:
  • The Associated Press: "The news organization will also now capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place."
  • APA style: APA Style - Racial and Ethnic Identity. Section 5.7 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition, September 2019."Capitalize 'Indigenous' and 'Aboriginal' whenever they are used. Capitalize 'Indigenous People' or 'Aboriginal People' when referring to a specific group (e.g., the Indigenous Peoples of Canada), but use lowercase for 'people' when describing persons who are Indigenous or Aboriginal (e.g., 'the authors were all Indigenous people but belonged to different nations')."
  • The Chicago Manual of Style: Capitalization: "We would capitalize 'Indigenous' in both contexts: that of Indigenous people and groups, on the one hand, and Indigenous culture and society, on the other. Lowercase 'indigenous' would be reserved for contexts in which the term does not apply to Indigenous people in any sense—for example, indigenous plant and animal species."
  • Native American Journalists Association: Reporter's Indigenous Terminology Guide, NAJA AP Style Guide, "So you need an Indigenous Expert... Start here"
  • The United Nations updated their Editorial Manual to include that "Indigenous should be capitalized when referring to cultures, communities, lands, languages, etc., of Indigenous Peoples, e.g.: Indigenous culture in Ecuador, Indigenous languages are dying out. If referring to flora or fauna, lower case should be used."
• These are terms of citizenship, not race. (For Wikipedia guidelines, see MOS:CITIZEN.)
• Terminology varies by both generation and region. While some editors try to remove "Indian" from Wikipedia, it is still used in the official titles of many Indigenous groups and organizations, such as the American Indian College Fund and Indian Country Today. It is also the personal terminology preferred by some Indigenous individuals.
• Most Indigenous people prefer to be identified by their specific nation or tribe, rather than an umbrella term. The most common form is to link this in a parenthetic or clause after their name. Example: Joy Harjo (Muscogee Nation). Less common, but useful when including more information, Joy Harjo, Muscogee Nation citizen and United States Poet Laureate.
• Native American in most Wikipedia articles and categories refers to the Indigenous peoples of the United States, so American Indians, Alaska Natives, optionally Native Hawaiians, and optionally Indigenous people of territories of the United States, such as Guam and American Samoa.
• First Nations refers to the Indigenous peoples in Canada who are not Inuit or Métis.

For guidelines on writing about Indigenous identity on Wikipedia, especially in BLPs, see This essay by the Indigenous wikiproject for North America, and in particular, this section with examples.

Singular titles

Use of the singular titles for ethnic groups is generally deprecated in favor of plural titles. Notably, a October–November 2015 request for comment determined that articles about American ethnic groups, which had largely used singular titles, such as African American and Chinese American, should use titles rendered in the plural, e.g. African Americans and Chinese Americans. Note that mass nouns may be the same as the singular form; these are acceptable if they are the common name.

Other

Forms that require a definite article should not be used, e.g. French people is used instead of the French. Gendered terminology should also be avoided, e.g. English people is used instead of Englishmen.

Self-identification

The names an ethnic group or Indigenous government self-identifies should be considered. If their autonym is commonly used in English, it would be the best article title. Any terms regarded as derogatory by members of the ethnic group in question should be avoided.

Individual self-identification is insufficient to determine Indigenous identity. Confirmation must come from the group in question. See WP:NDNID.

Disputes

Disputes over how to refer to a group are addressed by policies such as Verifiability, Neutral point of view, Article titles, and English. Undiscussed, unilateral moves of widely edited articles are discouraged. Feel free to ask for advice on Indigenous articles at the wikiproject.