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Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography

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This page sets out guidelines for achieving visual and textual consistency in biographical articles and in biographical information in other articles; such consistency allows Wikipedia to be used more easily. While this guideline focuses on biographies, its advice pertains, where applicable, to all articles that mention people.

Lead section

The lead section should summarise with due weight the life and works of the person. When writing about controversies in the lead section of a biography, relevant material should neither be suppressed nor allowed to overwhelm: always pay scrupulous attention to reliable sources, and make sure the lead correctly reflects the entirety of the article. Write clinically, and let the facts speak for themselves. These concerns are especially pressing for biographies of living persons.

Well-publicized recent events affecting a subject, whether controversial or not, should be kept in historical perspective. What is most recent is not necessarily what is most noteworthy: new information should be carefully balanced against old, with due weight accorded to each.

When a subject dies, the lead need not be radically reworked; Wikipedia is not a memorial site. Unless the cause of death is itself a reason for notability, a single sentence describing the death is usually sufficient, and often none is included in the lead at all, just a death date.

Opening paragraph

MoS guidelines for opening paragraphs and lead sentences should generally be followed. The opening paragraph of a biographical article should neutrally describe the person, provide context, establish notability, explain why the person is notable, and reflect the balance of reliable sources.

First sentence

The first sentence should usually state:

  1. Name(s) and title(s), if any (see also WP:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility)). Handling of the subject's name is covered below in § First mention.
  2. Dates of birth and death, if found in secondary sources (do not use primary sources for birth dates of living persons or other private details about them).
  3. Context (location, nationality, etc.) for the activities that made the person notable.
  4. One, or possibly more, noteworthy positions, activities, or roles that the person is mainly known for, avoiding subjective or contentious terms.
  5. The main reason the person is notable (key accomplishment, record, etc.)

However, try not to overload the first sentence by describing everything notable about the subject; instead, spread relevant information over the lead paragraph.

The first sentence should start with the person's name, immediately followed by key biographical data in parentheses. The parenthetical list of facts is separated by semicolons. Typically, these include their birth name, if relevant, introduced by born, neé or né (see MOS:BIRTHNAME), and their birth date, lifespan, or period of activity (see MOS:BIRTHDATE). Other information may be included, such as pronunciation, but this is usually better incorporated elsewhere (see MOS:LEADCLUTTER). If a birth name and birth date are both introduced with born, they should be joined with a comma and the second born should be omitted (e.g., born Hussein Abdi Kahin, 23 March 1983, not born Hussein Abdi Kahin; born 23 March 1983 or born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983).

First sentence examples:

  • Cleopatra VII Philopator[a] (69 – August 12, 30 BC) was queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, and its last active ruler.
  • Francesco Petrarca[b] (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch,[c] was a scholar and poet of Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists.
  • Cesar Estrada Chavez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist.
  • François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France.
  • Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver ...

Birth date and place

The opening paragraph should usually have dates of birth and (when applicable) death. These dates (specific day–month–year) are important information about the subject, but if they are also mentioned in the body, the vital year range (in brackets after the person's full name) may be sufficient to provide context. For living persons, privacy should be considered (see WP:Biographies of living persons § Privacy of personal information and using primary sources, which takes precedence).

Birth and death places, if known, should be mentioned in the body of the article, and can appear in the lead if relevant to notability, but not in the opening brackets alongside the birth and death dates.

Birth and death labels are included only when needed for clarity. When given, use full words, whether immediately preceding a date or not:

  • William Alexander Spinks Jr. (1865–1933) was an American professional player of carom billiards in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. – no need for labels, and specific dates are in the article body
  • Gro Harlem Brundtland (... born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician ... – "born" label used to introduce birth name

For an approximate date or range of dates, use c. (abbreviation for circa); at first occurrence this should be done with the template {{circa}} a.k.a. {{c.}}, which explains the abbreviation: c. 1457. When the only date known for a historical subject is a date (or range) when they were alive, fl. for floruit (Latin for 'they flourished') is used; at first occurrence the {{floruit}} a.k.a. {{fl.}} template produces similar output: fl. 1432.

For full details on how to format simple and complex dates and ranges, see WP:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers § Chronological items.

Beyond the first paragraph of the lead section, birth and death details should only be included after a name if there is special contextual relevance. Abbreviations like b. and d. can be used, if needed, when space is limited (e.g., in a table) and when used repetitively (e.g., in a list of people). Birthdate information can be included in lists, directly to the right of the name, in parentheses, using the following format:

  • John Smith (1900–1990), doctor, lawyer and politician
  • Sally Wong (born 1984), ice skater

Context

The opening paragraph should usually provide context for what made the person notable. In most modern-day cases, this will be the country, region, or territory where the person is currently a national or permanent resident; or, if the person is notable mainly for past events, where the person was such when they became notable. (For guidance on historic place names versus modern-day ones, see WP:Naming conventions (geographic names) § Use modern names.)[d][e]

Ethnicity, religion, or sexuality should generally not be in the lead unless relevant to the subject's notability. Similarly, neither previous nationalities nor the country of birth should be mentioned in the opening paragraph unless relevant to the subject's notability.

Nationality examples

The simplest example is someone who continued to reside in their country of origin:

The second example is someone who emigrated as a child and continued to identify as a citizen of their adopted country:

  • Isaac Asimov (c. January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer
Per the above guidance, we do not add ethnicity ("Jewish-American") or country of birth ("Russian-born American"). These details can be introduced in the second sentence if they are of defining importance.

In cases of public or relevant dual citizenship, or a career that spans a subject's emigration, the use of the word and reduces ambiguity.

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician
For a politician, dual citizenship can be a political issue, so it is important to be clear and avoid ambiguity. The lead sentence here is not about ethnicity ("Austrian-American") or the country of birth ("Austrian-born American"), but rather about dual citizenship.
  • Peter Lorre (June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor
This is an example of a person who established a career in Europe as a Hungarian, then emigrated to the United States and was naturalized and continued his career, and is thus known both as a Hungarian actor and as an American actor. The use of and again prevents the introduction of ethnicity or birth.

Native American and Indigenous Canadian status is based on citizenship, not ethnicity. Indigenous persons' citizenship can be listed parenthetically or as a clause after their names. (See also Wikipedia:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America/Determining Native American and Indigenous Canadian identities.)

Finally, in controversial or unclear cases, nationality is sometimes omitted.

  • Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon.
Copernicus's nationality is disputed, so it is omitted.
This article has a consensus not to include multiple citizenship in the first sentence.
The article quotes her calling her birth nationality a fluke, and describes her upbringing in two other countries.

Positions and roles

The lead sentence should describe the person as they are commonly described by reliable sources.

The noteworthy position(s) or role(s) the person held should usually be stated in the opening paragraph. However, avoid overloading the lead paragraph with various and sundry roles; instead, emphasize what made the person notable. Incidental and non-noteworthy roles (i.e. activities that are not integral to the person's notability) should usually not be mentioned in the lead paragraph.[f]

Offices, titles, and positions should accompany a name only if contextually relevant, and if common nouns, they should not be capitalized. For particulars on different types of titles, see § Positions, offices, and occupational titles, below.

Wherever possible, avoid defining a notable person, particularly in the title or first sentence, in terms of their relationships. Generally speaking, notability is not inherited; e.g. a person being the spouse or child of another notable person does not make that person notable.

Criminal acts

Labels such as "criminal", "convicted felon", "fraudster", and "convicted sex offender" are imprecise and could be construed as name-calling or a moral judgement. It is better to describe the specific crime itself. The description and its placement should not give undue weight to the crime.[g]

When the crime is central to a person's notability, it can be introduced immediately after establishing who they are or were:

  • Mary Katherine Fualaau (previously Letourneau, née Schmitz; January 30, 1962 – July 6, 2020) was an American teacher who pleaded guilty in 1997 to two counts of felony second-degree rape of a child and subsequently married her victim, a former student.
Fualaau was not notable before her crime, but establishing her profession first gives helpful context.
Booth was a noted actor of his day, but his theatrical fame is far eclipsed by his notoriety as an assassin.

When the person is primarily notable for a reason other than the crime, principles of due weight will usually suggest placing the criminal description later in the first paragraph or in a subsequent paragraph (e.g. Martha Stewart, Rolf Harris,[h] Roman Polanski[i]). If the crime is not a significant part of the person's notability (e.g. Tim Allen, convicted of a felony 16 years before his rise to fame), it may be undue to mention in the lead at all.

Names

Most of the examples throughout this section illustrate usage in the title sentence, but are generally applicable to personal names in any encyclopedic text unless the advice provided is explicitly about the lead section at the subject's own biographical article.

Most recent personal names have but one correct spelling for a particular individual, although presentation (use of initials, middle names, nicknames, etc.) can vary and still be correct. In these cases, it is best to use a recognizable form. The most complete name should appear at the beginning of the article to provide maximum information. Inclusion of middle names or initials when they are widely known can be a useful form of disambiguation if there is more than one person known by that name. This can be particularly useful in disambiguating family members with very similar names (e.g., George W. Bush, George P. Bush, George H. W. Bush). However, if the person is conventionally known by only their first and last names and disambiguation is not required, any middle names should be omitted. When a non-English personal name is written in a romanised form, it is encouraged to include the authentic spelling of the name at least once. For a person who has a biographic article, a link to that may suffice.

Names from history are less certain as to spelling, and the further back one goes the less particular societies were about exactness, so variations are more likely. Reliable sources on history should be consulted when a decision about naming must be made or a controversy arises. A readily accessible and authoritative source for the accepted name of a person who has written books, or who has been written about, is the US Library of Congress Authorities database, which provides the accepted name and variant names used by the British Library, the National Library of Canada, and other English-language libraries. Redirect pages can ensure that all variants lead to the desired article.

Unusual exceptions

Exceptions to the guidance in the Names section are only made when:

  • The person has clearly declared and consistently used a preferred exceptional style for their own name; and
  • An overwhelming majority of reliable sources use that style.

In such a case, treat it as a self-published name change.

Examples:

danah boyd – lowercase – but not e e cummings
k.d. lang – lowercase, with unspaced initials
Megan Thee Stallion – variant spelling of The, capitalized mid-name – but not Cedric The Entertainer
CC Sabathia, and CCH Pounder – unspaced initials with no dots
Dedee Pfeiffer – spelled-out initials for Dorothy Diane
Rose ffrench, 1st Baroness ffrench – word-initial ff used by that family

Such exceptions are determined by consensus and source research at a particular article, and do not generalize across an entire category of subjects (e.g. other academics, singer-songwriters, sportspeople, actors, nobility, or groups).

Redirects to such an article should exist from other forms of the name that readers might search for, especially the form that complies with the Manual of Style's defaults (for the above cases: Danah Boyd, K. D. Lang, Megan the Stallion, C. C. Sabathia, C. C. H. Pounder, D. D. Pfeiffer, Rose Ffrench and Rose Ffrench, 1st Baroness Ffrench).

For unusual name presentations, usually in the sphere of performer marketing, that straddle the line between an individual's name and a trademark (e.g. Deadmau5, versus Ke$ha for Kesha), see WP:Manual of Style/Trademarks.

Text formatting

English-language text formatting and capitalization norms apply to the names of individuals and groups, including bands, troupes, teams/squads, and families. Avoid unusual text formatting, such as over-capitalization and letter substitutions, including for nicknames, stage names and other trademarks (Kesha, not Ke$ha).

Common nicknames, aliases, and variants are usually