- Recognizability – The title is a name or description of the subject that someone familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in, the subject area will recognize.
- Naturalness – The title is one that readers are likely to look or search for and that editors would naturally use to link to the article from other articles. Such a title usually conveys what the subject is actually called in English.
- Precision – The title unambiguously identifies the article's subject and distinguishes it from other subjects.
- Concision – The title is not longer than necessary to identify the article's subject and distinguish it from other subjects.
- Consistency – The title is consistent with the pattern of similar articles' titles. Many of these patterns are listed (and linked) as topic-specific naming conventions on article titles, in the box above.
Usage
editUse of this template transcludes (or substitutes) the principal naming criteria list from the WP:PRINCIPALNAMINGCRITERIA section of WP:Article Titles.
When a document needs to always reflect the current wording of the criteria, as might be the case when quoting it from another policy page, or from an essay or user home page, use the transclusion form: {{Principal Naming Criteria}}. It will automatically update in that document whenever it is changed at WP:TITLE.
When it needs to be simply quoted for what it currently states, and needs to remain quoted at the revision it was at when it was quoted, as is normally the case during Talk page discussion, use the substitution form: {{subst:Principal Naming Criteria}}.
Either form can be enclosed inside a quotation block to set it off from other text:
- {{quotation|{{Principal Naming Criteria}}}}
- {{quotation|{{subst:Principal Naming Criteria}}}}