Template talk:Atolls of the Maldives

Renaming

The purpose behind renaming this template as Administrative Divisions of the Maldives is because it refers to administrative divisions and not to proper geographical atolls. This is important in order to avoid confusion.

Male' has been added because it is one of the Administrative Divisions of the Maldives (T-10).

Reopening can of worms

After more than 10 years, I wonder if I can reopen the discussion on the names of the administrative divisions of the Maldives. As it has often been stated, each administrative division has an official name, usually that of the main geographical atoll within that administrative division. The names of the characters of the Thaana abugida assigned to each administrative division is merely a code, not a replacement of the official name of the administrative division.

As such, the listing of this template should not bear the names that it has at the moment, which is the names of the letters of the Thaana characters (Haa Alifu, Haa Dhalu etc), but rather, that of the official names of the divisions (North Thiladhunmathi Atoll, Male Atoll etc).

However, recognising that the Thaana character codes are now often used, I would like to propose a compromise of the naming convention for Wikipedia incorporating both official/traditional name and the Thaana character code become the title names of pages of the administrative divisions of the Maldives, eg: North Thiladhunmathi (Haa Alifu) Atoll, Male (Kaafu) Atoll, North Ari (Alifu Alifu) Atoll.

The official/traditional names (there are many different transliterations for Maldivian island names), as well as the names of the Thaana characters (Alif vs Alifu, Dhaalu vs Dhaal, etc) have to be standardised and this shall be based on the names appearing within Wikipedia.

Within these pages, there can be detailed content of the geographic atolls which are part of the administrative division.

In addition, the translation for Uthuruburi and Dhekenaburi should be translated as "North" and "South" instead of "Northern" and "Southern" for the atoll names. This is supported by several English signboards bearing the names of the atolls. Hence North Thiladhunmathi (Haa Alifu) Atoll, South Thiladhunmathi (Haa Dhaalu) Atoll, North Miladhunmadulu (Shaviyani) Atoll etc.

Am open to views and criticisms on this. Thanks. Slleong (talk) 08:30, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

New names for articles and template

Further from my last talk post, here are the proposed new names for administrative division articles, and the components for the template. The names and spelling conventions follow official Madivian government website (eg National Bureau of Statistics) names for islands and also the name of letters for the Thaana alphabet which are used as administrative division code names.

From north to south they are:

• North Thiladhunmathi (Haa Alifu) Atoll to replace the Haa Alif Atoll page
• South Thiladhunmathi (Haa Dhaalu) Atoll to replace the Haa Dhaalu Atoll page etc
• North Miladhunmadulu (Shaviyani) Atoll
• South Miladhunmadulu (Noonu) Atoll
• North Maalhosmadulu (Raa) Atoll
• South Maalhosmadulu (Baa) Atoll
• Faadhippolhu (Lhaviyani) Atoll
• Malé (Kaafu) Atoll to replace the Kaafu Atoll and the Malé Atoll pages
• Malé City
• North Ari (Alifu Alifu) Atoll
• South Ari (Alifu Dhaalu) Atoll
• Felidhu (Vaavu) Atoll
• Mulaku (Meemu) Atoll
• North Nilandhe (Faafu) Atoll
• South Nilandhe (Dhaalu) Atoll
• Kolhumadulu (Thaa) Atoll
• Hadhdhunmathi (Laamu) Atoll
• North Huvadhu (Gaafu Alifu) Atoll
• South Huvadhu (Gaafu Dhaalu) Atoll
• Fuvahmulah (Gnaviyani) Atoll
• Addu City

Again, open for other suggestions. Slleong (talk) 09:24, 30 April 2018 (UTC)