Title Case and should be named according the first appearance of the subject.
This page documents the Official GTA Wiki Manual of Style on article naming conventions.
Formatting
General principles
Page names should:
- Be clear and unambiguous.
- Follow established patterns and conventions for similar types of articles.
- Be relevant to the subject and widely accepted.
- Follow
Title Case(see capitalization).
Capitalization
Titles for main content articles should follow Title Case:
- Always capitalize the first and last words of the title.
- Always capitalize proper nouns (such as names of places, people, entities, etc).
- Do not capitalize definitive or indefinite articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor), and prepositions of four letters or fewer (e.g., in, on, at, by, with).
Exceptions:
- Do not change the capitalization of official titles (such as the official name for a character, vehicle or weapon).
Stylization
The name of a subject may also often be subject to stylization, such as inconsistent usage of lowercase and uppercase letters, all-caps or use of special characters or (lack of) spaces.
- Page titles should use basic formatting (Title Case) unless the subject includes any type of stylization in-game or in other media (Trailers, Rockstar Newswire posts, etc) (for example, CAMHEDZ, not Camhedz).
- Where a subject is seen with multiple stylizations (including un-stylized formats), choose the most common one (see conflicting names). Any other variations should be included in the lead section (for example, "stylized as STYLIZED NAME or alternative names") and the "also known as" section of the infobox (if applicable).
Official vs unofficial names
Choosing the most suitable name for a page may sometimes result in going against the rules in order to preserve one or many of the general naming convention principles. One such example includes the choice between the "official" name given to a subject and a popularized but otherwise "unofficial" name.
An official name refers to the title given to a subject by Rockstar Games in or outside of a Grand Theft Auto game. This may be via in-game dialogue, media, or HUD text.
An unofficial name refers to a title or label used by the GTA community to refer to a character, location, item, or concept within a game. This is often done to bridge the ambiguity of official title, or to label something that is never named in-game.
The choice of an official or unofficial name should be made in the following priority:
- Where possible, articles should be named after their first official in-game name, regardless of whether they have unofficial titles (see recurring content).
- In situations where there is ambiguity, an unofficial title may be used in a disambiguous page name (see disambiguous names).
Conflicting names
Content may sometimes be given multiple common names which conflict with one another. In such situations, it may be difficult to determine what name to choose for the page's title.
Where possible, the most clear and concise name for a subject should be used as the page title. In situations where other, existing content may easily be confused (or even clash) with the new page, the specific instance of a subject name should be used (for example, Staunton Island City Hall rather than City Hall. Conflicting names may require disambiguation pages and consideration for disambiguous page names (see disambiguous names).
Subjects with multiple conflicting names should always make it clear where each name is mentioned, be it in-game or via other official sources. This may include mentioning them in parenthesis in the lead section and/or listing them in the "also known as" section of an infobox.
Disambiguous names
A disambiguous name refers to a page title which is appended a piece of information within parentheses to differentiate it from another piece of conflicting material. This is not to be confused with a conflicting name which is when a single subject is given multiple names.
Page names containing official titles which conflict with other page names should should be appended a concise piece of disambiguous information, in the following priority:
- A concise description (one or two words), if the subjects are entirely different types of content (for example, Dukes (car)),
- An abbreviated game title, if separate subjects of the same type (i.e, a character, location or mission) appear in different games - this can only be true if the subjects each appear in only one game (for example, Chinatown (GTA IV) and Chinatown (GTA San Andreas), two entirely separate locations in different games).
- A game universe, if separate subjects appear in multiple games within different universes (for example, Los Santos (3D Universe) and Los Santos (HD Universe)).
- A relevant official title, such as a mission (for example, Mule (Short Trips), a vehicle which is only used during Short Trips and its disambiguous name is used to differentiate it from other models).
- A widely accepted unofficial title (see official vs unofficial names) (for example, Police Cruiser (interceptor), which is used to differentiate it from two other police cars of the same name; "interceptor" is a widely accepted name given to this particular vehicle).
In cases where there is a clear bias towards a more notable page (such as the Rogue - a plane in GTA Online, clearly more significant than the magazine of the same name), it may be necessary to move or rename one or more pages so the most notable page holds the non-disambiguous name.
Pages with disambiguous pages are generally grouped at a disambiguation page. This is only necessary if there are three or more pages affected by disambiguation, or if the pages refer to the same subject but in separate universes (such as Admiral or Vice City).
Typographical errors
The name of a subject may sometimes be mistyped in-game. If the typographical error is obvious, the page name should use a corrected version of the subject name (for example, Edgar Carlos, whose name is misspelled "Edgar Claros" in-game). A redirect using the mistyped name should be created and directed to the (correct) page name and the mistyped name should be mentioned in the lead section.
Plurals
The use of singular and plural titles depends on the context of the article's subject and its purpose.
- Subjects which refer to groups and classes of specific things should have plural titles (for example, Vehicles, not Vehicle).
- A subject which is generally referred to in its plural form can have a plural title (for example, Cats and Dogs, not Cat and Dog).
- Subjects with an official name should have a singular title (for example, Tow Truck).
- Subjects which include a plural in their official name should also have a plural title (for example, the GTA V mission Carbine Rifles).
Any page which uses a plural title should have a singular title equivalent created as a redirect, unless it already exists, in which case a disambiguation page may be required.
Recurring content
Recurring content refers to a subject which makes appearances in multiple Grand Theft Auto titles. The choice of page name for recurring content can be particular difficult, especially when the page is not written immediately after the subject's first appearance, or when the subject has been given multiple, alternating names throughout the series.
- If the subject has an official name, the page title should reflect the subject's name in its first release (for example, the Jetmax, which was known as the Cuban Jetmax in its first appearance).
- If the subject has an official name, but is later given a different name solely to differentiate it from a similarly or identically-named subject (within the same universe), the page can be moved to a new name (for example, the Oracle XS, which was originally named "Oracle" in GTA IV until a new Oracle was introduced in GTA V.).
- If the subject does not have an official name, but is later given one, the page should be named (or moved) to the official name. The page should also document that the subject was not given an official name until later on.
- Recurring content should always use the name given in its latest chronological appearance as the display title. This is achieved by adding
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Your text here}}to the bottom of an article. This chronology should also be applied to the article's infobox image and lead section subject name.
Game title naming conventions
Titles of games within or related to the Grand Theft Auto series must follow a series of naming conventions based on their official titles.
Unofficial abbreviations such as "GTA 3" or "GTA 4" are not permitted. Similarly, established formatting must also be followed, for example, "GTA Vice City" instead of "GTA: Vice City" or "GTA VC".
Game titles must always be formatted in italics (MOS:ITALIC). The only exception to this is when they are used in tabbers, infobox panels, the title bar navigation or in any non-article content (such as categories or templates).
| Release number | Full title | Abbreviated title | Shorthand title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Grand Theft Auto | GTA | 1 | As of December 2024, "GTA 1" is not a permitted abbreviation. It may be necessary to specify "the first GTA" in situations where GTA (the 1997 game) and GTA (the series) may easily be confused. |
| 02 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 (or Grand Theft Auto: London collectively) | GTA London 1969 (or GTA London) | L69 (or L) | |
| 03 | Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 | GTA London 1961 | L61 | |
| 04 | Grand Theft Auto 2 | GTA 2 | 2 | |
| 05 | Grand Theft Auto III | GTA III | III | |
| 06 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | GTA Vice City | VC | |
| 07 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | GTA San Andreas | SA | |
| 08 | Grand Theft Auto Advance | GTA Advance | A | |
| 09 | Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories | GTA Liberty City Stories | LCS | |
| 10 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories | GTA Vice City Stories | VCS | |
| 11 | Grand Theft Auto IV | GTA IV | IV | |
| 12 | The Lost and Damned | TLAD | TLAD | |
| 13 | Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars | GTA Chinatown Wars | CW | |
| 14 | The Ballad of Gay Tony | TBOGT | TBOGT | |
| 15 | Grand Theft Auto V (or Grand Theft Auto V and Online) | GTA V (or GTA V and Online) | V (or VO) | |
| 16 | Grand Theft Auto Online | GTA Online | O | |
| 17 | Grand Theft Auto VI | GTA VI | VI |
Usage of abbreviated and shorthand titles
Depending on the context, it is permitted to use full, abbreviated or shorthand versions of game titles. As a general rule of thumb, the full title should be used in article body text and headings.
| Title format | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Full title | Lead sections, article body text, infobox/master image and gallery captions, navigation box titles, third-level sub headings (See Manual of Style:Headings and subheadings#Sub_headings). | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City |
| Abbreviated title | Repetitive usage in article body text, infobox fields (except "Appears/mentioned in" sections), fourth-level sub headings (or lower). | GTA Vice City |
| Shorthand title | Infobox panels. | VC |
| Hybrid format | A hybrid format is used for file uploads to achieve concise but coherent file names. This sees the use of the abbreviated "GTA" affix tied to the shorthand game title, for example, "GTALCS" for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. | GTAVC |
Non-article naming conventions
Capitalization
Titles for non-article content such as templates, categories, GTA Wiki Policy and Manual of Style pages, should use Sentence case:
- Only capitalize the first word of the title (For example, Category:Public transportation, not Category:Public Transportation).
- Always capitalize proper names (such as names of places, people, entities, etc) (for example, Category:Members of the Epsilon Program, not Category:Members of the Epsilon program).
File uploads
Any media uploaded to GTA Wiki must be named appropriately and conventionally:
- Use
TitleCaseand avoid spaces. - Follow a naming convention of
SubjectName-GTAgame-Description.png. - Use hyphens (
-) to separate the subject, game and description. - Do not use full or brief game titles (for example,
Adder-GrandTheftAutoV.jpgorCarlJohnson-SA.png) - Do not use meaningless or broad file names (for example,
Screenshot1234.jpgorIMG_20220513_215214.png). - Prepending the "
File:" namespace manually should not be required as this is automatically included when uploading using Special:Upload or uploading/adding media directly inside the Visual Editor.
Navigation box templates should generally follow a naming convention of Navbox name.
Infobox templates
Infobox templates should generally follow a naming convention of Infobox name.
Category pages
| GTA Wiki Manual of Style | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General practices |
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| Article layouts | Animals | Buildings | Businesses | Vehicles | ||||||||
| Other practices | We're not Wikipedia | Ignore the rules | What needs a Manual of Style | ||||||||
| Category:Manual of Style (shortcuts) • Category:Policy • Category:GTA Wiki | |||||||||