Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Egypt)

This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention.

Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.

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This page provides documentation for the naming conventions for articles that are related to Egypt. For style manual, see manual of style for Egypt-related articles. This page complements the general guidelines which are given by Wikipedia:Naming conventions.

Placenames

This section describes the naming conventions for Egyptian cities, villages, etc.

Official name

This is simply the conventional English name of a place.

If there are more than one candidate English name for the place, you should only use one name as the official name. Ideally, the official name is the most accepted English equivalent of the official Arabic name (like Benha for بنها).

The name shall be followed by:
- Nothing; if the place is a city (ex: Cairo), a district (ex: Azbakeya, El Manial, El Marg, Montaza), a markaz (ex: Desouk, Borg El Arab), or a neighborhood (ex: Bakos, Gianaclis). For all those places, the official name only consists of the conventional English name of the place.
- Governorate; if the place is a governorate (example: North Sinai Governorate, Dakahlia Governorate). For consistency, always use governorate, not governate. Don't confuse Alexandria Governorate with Alexandria city.
- Peninsula; for Sinai (ex: Sinai Peninsula).

For metropolitan Cairo, just use Greater Cairo (القاهرة الكبرى). Don't confuse it with Cairo Metro.

Alternative names

These are alternative English names that are commonly used to refer to the place in English language

Example: Antinopolis is also known/written as Antinoopolis.
No specific ordering rules here.

Native names

The native names for a place in Egypt are the Arabic, Coptic, and Greek names of that place.

Arabic

Refer to the official directory of Egyptian governorates for official Standard Arabic names.
The Egyptian Arabic variants are very useful in cases such as Alexandria, where the Egyptian Arabic form (اسكندرية) differs from the official Standard Arabic form (الإسكندرية), and at the same time is much more commonly used in daily life than the Standard Arabic one.

Coptic

For a comprehensive list of Coptic names of Egyptian cities, refer to list of Coptic place names page. It is not surprising that most of the official names for Egyptian cities are directly based on the Coptic names.

Transliteration can be a bit tricky especially because there are different pronunciations by different Coptic dialects for most of the cities. For transliteration of Bohairic names, it is recommended to use Emile Maher Ishak's PhD thesis, The phonetics and phonology of the Bohairic dialect of Coptic, which contains a comprehensive study on Bohairic Coptic completed in 1975 with the encouragement of Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, as it is widely accepted throughout the Coptic community.

Example: Dallas (Arabic: دلاص; Bohairic Coptic: ϯⲗⲟϫ, translit: Diloʒ; Fayyumic Coptic: ϯⲗⲁϭ)^[1] is a city in Beni Suef Governorate, Egypt, which obviously has nothing to do with the one in Texas.

For Cairo, please use ⲕⲁϣⲣⲱⲙⲓ. Refer to this awesome discussion on incubator for details. Although we have strong evidence that the area that is now called Cairo has been called the house of Ra (ka-Ra) for thousands of years before Fatimid Cairo was established, as Ra has been the official god of Heliopolis هليوبوليس, the city of the sun (compare this with ka-ptah (the house of Ptah), which is Memphis),^[2] and although we also have strong evidence that the place was called ka-Ra in the Pyramid Texts نصوص الأهرام, we still don't have enough evidence to assume that the Coptic word "ⲕⲁϩⲓⲣⲏ", which appears to be a constructed word that gained popularity because of its folk etymology, has been used as commonly as "ⲕⲁϣⲣⲱⲙⲓ".

Greek

Check hellenization of place names, Ptolemaic kingdom, and hellenic culture in Egypt for more information.
Examples for hellenized cities: Alexandria اسكندرية, Antinopolis arz:انطيونوبوليس, Coptos arz:قفط, Thebes طيبة, Memphis arz:ممفيس, Heliopolis هليوبوليس, Canopus كانوبس, Herakleion ar:مدينة_هرقليون, Sais صا أو سايس, Berenice Troglodytica ar:برنيس, Taposiris Magna ar:أبو_صير_(البدرشين), Busiris ar:أبو_صير_بنا, Bubastis بويسطة, Avaris arz:اواريس, Tanis arz:تانيس, Abydos ar:أبيدوس, Elephantine ar:إلفنتين, Philae ar:فيلة, etc. Obviously most of these names are used as of today by native Egyptians (check the Arabic links for more information).
For cities that obviously have no native Greek name(s), like Cairo, don't transcribe or translate the Arabic/Coptic name into Greek.

Administrative units

General guidelines

Guidelines:

Check the lists below for official administrative names.

Ordering:

If the place has multiple types, you are free to include only one type (the best known one) or more. For instance, Borg El Arab is both a markaz and a city.

Examples:

Borg El Arab (Arabic: برج العرب) is a city in Alexandria, Egypt.
Borg El Arab (Arabic: برج العرب) is a city and a markaz of Alexandria, Egypt.

Specific guidelines

Alexandria

Alexandria Governorate:
- Districts (collectively known as city of Alexandria):
  1. Second Montaza district حي المنتزة ثان
  2. First Montaza district حي المنتزة أول
  3. East district حي شرق
  4. Middle district حي وسط
  5. Gomrok district حي الجمرك
  6. West district حي غرب
  7. Agamy district حي العجمي
  8. First Amriyya district حي العامرية أول
  9. Second Amriyya district حي العامرية ثان
- Markazes:
  1. Borg El-Arab markaz مركز برج العرب:
    - Borg El-Arab city مدينة برج العرب
- Notes:
  1. All the districts together, except Borg El-Arab, make up Alexandria city مدينة الإسكندرية.
  2. Don't confuse districts أحياء with neighborhoods مناطق سكنية, like Karmoz كرموز and Louran (neighborhood) لوران. See: Neighbourhoods of Alexandria.

Cairo

- Districts (collectively known as city of Cairo):
  - See Districts of Cairo for a comprehensive list.
- Notes:
  1. Shubra شبرا مصر is a district in Cairo, but Shubra El Kheima شبرا الخيمة belongs to Qalyubiyya Governorate.

Giza

Giza Governorate:
- Districts (collectively known as city of Giza):
  1. Warraq district حي الوراق
  2. North district حي شمال
  3. Agouza district حي العجوزة
  4. Dokki district حي الدقي
  5. Boulaq Eldakrour district حي بولاق الدكرور
  6. Omarniyya district حي العمرانية
  7. South district حي جنوب
  8. Pyramids district حي الهرم
- Markazes:
  1. Kirdasa markaz مركز كرداسة
    - Kirdasa city مدينة كرداسة
  2. Mansha'et Elqanater markaz مركز منشأة القناطر
    - Mansha'et Elqanater city مدينة منشأة القناطر
  3. Ousim markaz مركز اوسيم
    - Ousim city مدينة أوسيم
  4. Abolnomrous markaz مركز أبو النمرس
    - Abolnomrous city مدينة أبو النمرس
  5. Hawamdiyya markaz مركز الحوامدية
    - Hawamdiyya city مدينة الحوامدية
  6. Badrasheen markaz مركز البدرشين
    - Badrasheen city مدينة البدرشين
  7. Ayyat markaz مركز العياط
    - Ayyat city مدينة العياط
  8. Elsaff markaz مركز الصف
    - Elsaff city مدينة الصف
  9. Atfih markaz مركز أطفيح:
    - Atfih city مدينة أطفيح
  10. Wahat Baharyyia مركز الواحات البحرية:
    - Baweety city مدينة الباويطي
- Autonomous areas:
  1. Sheikh Zayed city مدينة الشيخ زايد
  2. October city مدينة السادس من أكتوبر
- Notes:
  1. Imbaba is no longer a stand-alone markaz. Both Imbaba إمبابة and Munira المنيرة are suburbs of the official North district حي شمال.

Qalyubiyya

Qalyubiyya Governorate:
- Districts (collectively known as city of Shubra El Kheima):
  1. East Shubra El Kheima district حي شرق شبرا الخيمة
  2. West Shubra El Kheima district حي غرب شبرا الخيمة
- Markazes:
  1. Khanka markaz مركز الخانكة
    - Khanka city مدينة الخانكة
    - Khusus city مدينة الخصوص
  2. Shebeen Elqanater markaz مركز شبين القناطر
    - Shebeen Elqanater city مدينة شبين القناطر
  3. Elqanater Elkhayriyya markaz مركز القناطر الخيرية
    - Elqanater Elkhayriyya city مدينة القناطر الخيرية
  4. Qalyub markaz مركز قليوب
    - Qalyub city مدينة قليوب
  5. Tukh markaz مركز طوخ
    - Qaha city مدينة قها
    - Tukh city مدينة طوخ
  6. Benha markaz مركز بنها
    - Benha city مدينة بنها
  7. Kafr Shukr markaz مركز كفر شكر
    - Kafr Shukr city مدينة كفر شكر

References

^ Ishak, Emile Maher (September 1975). The phonetics and phonology of the Bohairic dialect of Coptic. The university of Oxford.
^ Bonnet, Hans. Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte (in German).

[1] Ishak, Emile Maher (September 1975). The phonetics and phonology of the Bohairic dialect of Coptic. The university of Oxford.

[2] Bonnet, Hans. Reallexikon der Ägyptischen Religionsgeschichte (in German).

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