For a more recent discussion, please see Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (subnational entities)

Work in progress, not official policy!

To make editing easier, to reduce possible wrong links, to give a consistent view to the reader

it is proposed

to reduce the number of naming variants for subnational entities called province in english.

The Category:Provinces now has 64 subcategories representing 64 sets of provinces.

1. X
2. X, Country
3. X (Country)
4. X province
5. X province, Country
6. X province (Country)
7. X Province
8. X Province, Country
9. X Province (Country)
10. X (province)
11. X (province of Country)
12. X (somelandian province)
13. Province of X (Country)
14. Province of X, Country

1. Naming variants used: 3
   1. X - in general
   2. X Province - if there are other things called "X" and if it is more convenient because the majority of a certain set of provinces already uses "X Province" due to disambiguation.
   3. X Province, Country - if there are provinces of the same name in different countries.
2. Note: This proposal only effects articles about subnational entities that have the term "province" in the title.
3. Support
   1. User:Tobias Conradi (Talk) 14:48, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

1. Naming variants used: 14
   1. Province of X - in general if the province is italian
   2. Province of X (Italy) or Province of X, Italy ? - for country disambiguation
   3. all other variants including the former a possible for non-Italian provinces
2. Support
   1. see: Talk:Provinces of Italy (Giano,Docu,Bill Thayer,Bishonen)

• X
  • Cabinda (Angola)
  • Quebec (Canada)
• X Province
  • Balkh Province (Afghanistan)
  • Benguela Province (Angola)
  • Ararat Province (Armenia)
  • Taiwan Province (China)
  • Hamadan Province (Iran)
  • Vientiane Province (Laos)
  • Arhangay Province (Mongolia)
  • Chiang Mai Province (Thailand)
  • Adana Province (Turkey)
  • Masvingo Province (Zimbabwe)
• X Province, Country
  • San Juan Province, Argentina
  • San Juan Province, Dominican Republic

The following aims to be a complete list of subnational entities called province on Wikipedia.

Sets marked by * use the term province only for disambiguation.

1. Provinces of Afghanistan* (velayat)
2. Provinces of Algeria* (wilayat)
3. Provinces of Angola*
4. Provinces of Argentina* (provincia)
5. Provinces of Armenia* (marz)
6. Provinces of Belarus (voblast)
7. Provinces of Bulgaria (oblast)
8. Provinces of Burkina Faso* (fr:province)
9. Provinces of Cameroon
10. Provinces of Chile (provincia)
11. Province of China* (shěng)
12. Provinces of Costa Rica (provincia)
13. Provinces of Cuba* (provincia)
14. Provinces of the Dominican Republic* (provincia)
15. Provinces of Ecuador* (provincia)
16. Provinces of Equatorial Guinea (provincia?)
17. Provinces of Finland* (lääni,län)
18. Provinces of Gabon* (fr:province)
19. Provinces of Greece
20. Provinces of Iran*
21. Provinces of Italy (provincia) [a proposal to move to the form "Province of X" exists]
22. Provinces of Japan (kuni) [historic]
23. Provinces of Kazakhstan* (oblysy)
24. Provinces of Kenya
25. Provinces of Kyrgyzstan (oblasty)
26. Provinces of Laos* (khoueng)
27. Provinces of Madagascar (?)
28. Provinces of Mongolia (aymag) in line with provinces of Outer Mongolia [historic]
29. Provinces of Mozambique*
30. Provinces of New Zealand* [historic]
31. Provinces of the Ottoman Empire* [historic]
32. Provinces of Pakistan*
33. Provinces of Panama* (provincia)
34. Provinces of Papua New Guinea*
35. Provinces of Peru (provincia)
36. Provinces of the Philippines* (Filipino: lalawigan or probinsya)
37. Provinces of the Roman Empire* (provincia) [historic]
38. Provinces of Saudi Arabia* (mintaqah, translation not inline with general use of the term province for the arab word wilaya)
39. Provinces of Sierra Leone
40. Provinces of the Solomon Islands*
41. Provinces of South Africa
42. Provinces of Sri Lanka
43. Provinces of Thailand (changwat)
44. Provinces of Turkey (il)
45. Provinces of Turkmenistan (welayat)
46. Provinces of Uzbekistan (viloyat)
47. Provinces of Vietnam* (tinh)
48. Provinces of Zambia
49. Provinces of Zimbabwe*

1. Provinces of Belgium #10 entries#
   1. 3 use "X (province)"
   2. 1 uses "X (Country)"
   3. 1 uses "X (province of Country)"
   4. one region could be considered province level uses: "X Region"
2. Provinces of Indonesia* #29 entries#
   1. 2 use "X (Indonesian province)"
3. Provinces of the Netherlands #12 entries#
   1. 2 use "X (province)"
   2. 1 uses "X (Country)"
4. Provinces of Spain #50 entries# (provincia)
   1. 8 use "X" (cases in which the province name is not the same as the capital city -- i.e. 3 Basque provinces and those autonomous communities consisting of one province
   2. 2 use "X Province, Country" -- Jaén (shares name with province in Peru) and Córdoba (ibid., Argentina)
   3. 40 use "X (province)"

I propose this proposal be deleted in lieu of Wikipedia:Naming conventions (subnational entities) which handles provinces and all other types. Not all "provinces" are equal, either, so there's no reason to have a specific convention for them. Either there should be a convention for all first-level divisions, or a convention for each country individually; one country's province may be in no way equal to another country's province. --Golbez 22:35, August 13, 2005 (UTC)