The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

If a deceased trans or nonbinary person was not notable prior to transitioning, when should an article mentioning that person include their deadname?

!votes (MOS:GENDERID topic 2)

• Option 3. Skyerise (talk) 19:00, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2 (proposer): I do think it's fair to say that a reader who's seen a name widely reported in the media will be thrown by its absence in an article—that could be true especially if there's initial media confusion about how a person identified. That said, particularly when it comes to individuals whose deadnames are never widely reported, there's no reason to include the deadname. A name isn't in and of itself telling. In these cases, it's, effectively, a piece of trivia. I would secondarily support Option 3. --Jerome Frank Disciple 19:32, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 Full disclosure, I assisted Jerome Frank Disciple with drafting these questions. Option 3 for me is the neatest, simplest, and best way to handle this. As Jayron32 eloquently put on 6 April, treating people with respect and decency doesn't stop at the moment they die. At present, because the second and third paragraphs of MOS:GENDERID restrict the guideline to apply only to living trans and non-binary people, our basic respect and decency actually stops at roughly the moment they die (WP:BDP not withstanding), as at that time the second paragraph of GENDERID ceases to apply and editors can seek consensus to include that person's deadname. In practice, what the changes in option 3 will mean is that when a notable trans or non-binary person who was not notable prior to their transition, like the named examples in the existing guideline of Laverne Cox and Rachel Levine, dies, editors will not be able to insert their deadname simply because that person is now dead. If the article said Jane Doe (born 1 January 1990) today, and Jane died tomorrow, then the lead would read Jane Doe (1 January 1990 - 7 May 2023).
  Some may ask, why is this necessary? If reliable sources call Jane Doe Jane today, won't they continue to call her Jane when she dies? Unfortunately this is not always the case. It is a sad fact that right now, I can go on Google, type in the name of a famous living trans or non-binary person, and usually find at least one reliable media source that has published their name. Typically the only sources to do this are those with a strong socially conservative bias in their reporting, though there are some exceptions. Because of this and the current phrasing of our guideline, when a notable trans or non-binary person dies, it's not inconceivable that WP:V could be met for including that person's deadname. There are also cases where a trans or non-binary person's deadname was never published by a reliable source while that person was alive, but their deadname is published in an obituary. This is most typically done when that trans or non-binary person's family members were not supportive of their transition and denied them agency over their gender identity.
  On the other options, I would strongly oppose option 1, for much of the reasons why I support option 3. For the purposes of aiding in consensus determination, I would also weakly support option 2 but only if option 3 fails. I do have a concern about option 2, that because satisfying the principle of least astonishment is, in many borderline cases, a matter of editorial consensus, it will in practice result in lengthy and occasionally contentious discussions on inclusion versus exclusion of the name after death. Sideswipe9th (talk) 20:13, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3: though the guidance has so far been for BLPs, where the situation is particularly sensitive, arguments translate across well enough to apply to dead individuals. It is poor reporting practice to include deadnames, can offend those who knew the subject and is not necessary if the individual was not notable. — Bilorv (talk) 20:17, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  If deadnames can offend some of those who knew the dead individual, then the new name can also offend some of those who knew the dead individual. The offense can be considered to be either balanced out or impossible to quantify. Thus offense should not be considered as a factor. starship.paint (exalt) 14:01, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Starship.paint: I'm not sure we should be pandering to those who'd find a transgender identity "offensive" by considering that offense as valid. It's not exactly a neutral issue to sit on the fence about; imagine if we applied the same logic to a BLP of someone who's gay, for instance. There's plenty in the Church of England who'd find Rev. Richard Coles' identity as an openly gay priest offensive, but we don't pretend that's an equally-sided issue and give way to them.—Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) (((ping)) me!) 11:01, 22 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Ineffablebookkeeper: - it doesn't have to be standard bigotry that you're thinking of. It could be the parents of John Doe, who gained prominence as Jane Doe, although in the parents' eyes, the child they raised will forever be John. Shall we invalidate their offense? starship.paint (exalt) 10:45, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Starship.paint: that may not be what we immediately think of when we think of bigotry, but it is bigotry nonetheless – a quiet, painful form of bigotry, but not everything has to be the world's loudest hate crime to count. I don't think our relatives, parents or loved ones have the right to define our identity because of their own feelings. They may have given birth to Jane Doe, but she is her own person; again, if we apply this whataboutism to a gay person, for instance, it appears as nonsense, we all know this. This isn't how we define policy at all. We can cover how Jane Doe's parents have or have not supported her transition, but I otherwise don't think this line of argument is supportable, valid, or the right move for policy – just because a family member or members don't support someone's transition, it doesn't give us leave to deadname someone.—Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) (((ping)) me!) 13:26, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Ineffablebookkeeper and Starship.paint: when it comes to parental acceptance, there is sadly a lot of overlap between parents who refuse to accept their child's sexuality and their child's gender identity. It often manifests in the same way, with statements like "no child of mine is going to be gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans/non-binary, and that's the end of it", or some of other identity denialism like "it's just a phase". I think Ineffablebookkeeper's point that we shouldn't pander to this form of bigotry in any form is the correct one.

  Ultimately it's the parent's choice to be unsupportive of their child for something that it is not a choice the child made, but we shouldn't enable that in any form. Being trans or non-binary is no more a choice than being non-heterosexual. In our articles, we can describe that the person's family was unsupportive if it meets other inclusion criteria, but we should not enable it. In almost all cases, if a person says they are one or more of the identities under the LGBT+ umbrella, then they are who they say they are. Sideswipe9th (talk) 13:40, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I'm getting strawman vibes here, @Ineffablebookkeeper and Sideswipe9th:. We are simply using a former name of a dead person. We have plenty of dead people with former names we can mention, but trans people are apparently special, we can't mention those.Trying to tie this into bigotry and supposed pandering and enabling and then into Wikipedia policy is simply WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS, against the provision of knowledge. When using the new name, it's okay to offend supposed bigots, but when using the dead name, it's not acceptable to offend people! Also, I kind of agree with the sentiment that I don't think our relatives, parents or loved ones have the right to define our identity because of their own feelings as pertaining to Wikipedia, because, in my opinion, it should be the reliable sources, at least on Wikipedia. starship.paint (exalt) 15:43, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Starship.paint: take it how you want; I've said my piece.—Ineffablebookkeeper (talk) (((ping)) me!) 16:43, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Starship.paint: Trying to tie this into bigotry Intentional deadnaming is a recognised form of bigotry, that has real world consequences for trans and non-binary people. Those of us who are advocating for option 3 (and possibly option 2) are not trying to tie this into bigotry, that link has already been made by reliable sources (see the deadnaming article for some).

  As the editors of the peer-reviewed journal Biological Invasions put it when announcing how they were updating their policies in relation to accessibility and inclusion: [Deadnaming] can be accidental or intentional, and it invalidates a person’s identity and dehumanizes a trans person’s experience. Further, maintaining a deadname in the public record draws unwanted attention to a trans author’s name and can lead to discrimination, misgendering, and harassment.

  We are simply using a former name of a dead person. Not quite. To use your language we would be using the deadname of a dead person. A name that most trans and non-binary people, alive or dead, is one that they no longer wish to be associated with.

  To ask this another way, if the Springer Nature group of journals, SAGE group of journals, and individual journals like Biological Invasions, and PLOS.one are changing their policies to enable retroactive name changes for trans and non-binary scientists, in a manner that removes their deadnames entirely from the record regardless of how famous or influential they are in a given field, why are we so hesitant to stop publishing the deadnames of trans and non-binary people who were not notable prior to transitioning shortly after they die? We are already not including that deadname in life, so why are we so hesitant to continue not publishing it in death? Sideswipe9th (talk) 16:17, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  We are already not including that deadname in life, so why are we so hesitant to continue not publishing it in death? - it's pretty simple, the dead can't be harmed. Also, Wikipedia already does intentionally deadname trans people, so I'm afraid intentional bigotry is not a good enough reason to block this. starship.paint (exalt) 16:27, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Also, Wikipedia already does intentionally deadname trans people Those who were notable prior to transitioning yes. However this is something that I suspect in another ten or so years, as media style guides are updated just as scholarly journal style guides have been, we will be revisiting. The AP Stylebook has recently made steps along the same lines to avoid deadnaming, except where it's by the request of the person or is absolutely necessary to understand the news story. But that is not who we are discussing here. Here we are discussing trans and non-binary people who were not notable prior to their transition, a different set of people entirely. Sideswipe9th (talk) 16:48, 23 May 2023 (UTC) Added AP Stylebook note Sideswipe9th (talk) 16:55, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  if someone finds us using the new name offensive, then that's not a problem with the article, it's a problem that person has with the name the trans person in question chose and used, which is not something we have control over. we don't get to go against that person's wishes on how to be referred to, and offend a marginalized group of people due to the implications that trans identities aren't valid, just because some people might wish the subject hadn't been trans or that trans people as a whole didn't exist.

  I also find it really interesting that WP:RGW is often cited in these conversations, when what it says is that we can't "right great wrongs" unless they're verifiable. it's basically just the WP:NOR repackaged, but it seems like people are somehow reading it to say that we aren't allowed to care about respecting trans identities.

  I think it is best practice not to mention non-notable former names for anyone, but yeah it is different with trans people. it's a really big concern for the trans community and there's no legitimate reason for us not to respect that. Tekrmn (talk) 16:20, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Thank you for acknowledging that it is different with trans people. it's a really big concern for the trans community. I simply believe that this concern cannot override the majority of reliable source coverage. I do not agree with the preferential treatment. starship.paint (exalt) 16:30, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  can you explain how you feel that referring to someone by their preferred name is preferential treatment? we refer to everyone else by their preferred name as far as I'm aware. Elliot Page's original stage name was the only name in his article prior to his transition despite it not being his legal name. It also seems disingenuous to say that we need to use the name that the greatest number of sources use, when that is not how we decide what is included in articles and especially not what name we use to refer to people. nobody is arguing that we use someone's preferred name if there's no reliable source for it, but to say that a certain number of sources need to use their new name over their old name doesn't make sense. Tekrmn (talk) 16:37, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The issue isn't exactly referring to someone by their preferred name. The issue is 100% referring to someone by their preferred name. The issue is about excluding all mention of former names, that's the difference. We could be 95% referring to someone by their preferred name, and 5% using the former name, but this is apparently unacceptable for trans people, and acceptable for non-trans people. starship.paint (exalt) 16:53, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The word “use” here is key. I feel that use-mention distinction is important in this discussion. Using a deadname seems to me to have high potential for causing offence. Mentioning one, far less so. I don’t think it’s invalidating to mention that somebody used to have a different name. Barnards.tar.gz (talk) 16:58, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  we don't have a formalized policy about this for cisgender subjects because nobody is arguing that we need to include old names for them at every opportunity, but in practice (with a few exceptions in older and poorly-written articles) it seems that a cis person who changes their name is referred to by their new name, and their old name is mentioned in the lead if they were notable under it and is otherwise omitted. if you want to open a discussion about the naming policy as it applies to everyone I would participate in that discussion and advocate for the same naming policies to apply to everyone, but regardless, we have acknowledged that there are additional reasons (though we certainly haven't gone into detail about what they are) that correctly naming trans people (and only mentioning their deadname where necessary) is a higher level concern than it is for cis people. why is it so unacceptable to you that we create additional protection for them in our guidelines (at least for now) given that they are both specifically being targeted as a result of our loose naming guidelines and that their names are of much greater importance to them personally and as a community? what is the problem with that? Tekrmn (talk) 17:12, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3. I see the appeal of option 2 but I don't want us to get bogged down in arguments over what is "least astonishing" when some of the people arguing are likely to trolls who will pretend to be astonished just to be disruptive. Option 3 doesn't stop us mentioning previous names so long as they were genuinely notable under those names, so there is no risk of anybody looking for an article under one name, finding the article under a different name and and not being sure whether this refers to the same person. That is the only legitimate purpose for including a deadname. If a subject was not notable under their deadname then adding it helps nobody to find or understand the article. In addition, I strongly agree with Bilorv's comments about the risk of offending friends and relatives of deceased subjects. DanielRigal (talk) 20:38, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  There is equally a "risk of offending friends and relatives of deceased subjects" even when using the last preferred name. starship.paint (exalt) 14:04, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  That's true! I agree in principle here—the "friends and family" argument doesn't have much purchase with me, because, hey, even friends and family can be bigots! I think Folly Mox is correct that, in terms of respect, the issue is respect for the transgender community.--Jerome Frank Disciple 14:12, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  My respect for the transgender community does not exceed adherence to widespread reliable sourcing. Seems clear that plenty of editors disagree, but it's looks like WP:RGW to me. starship.paint (exalt) 14:18, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I'm not sure I'd agree that every fact that gets repeatedly mentioned in reliable sources is inherently worthy of inclusion, but it sounds like you're for option 2?--Jerome Frank Disciple 14:20, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I've voted down below. I never argued "every fact", the thing is, names are obviously a form of identification, and the lack of identification can be a source of confusion. Omitting hypothetical other facts may not cause such issues. starship.paint (exalt) 14:35, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I'm glad your found an option that resonated with you!--Jerome Frank Disciple 14:36, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2 or 3: I'm mostly even between these two options because I think they both exclude everything I'd really want to exclude. Option 2 allows for cases where a dead person's deadname became well-known after their death, while Option 3 doesn't. I think there's a reasonable case for either version. I oppose Option 1 since I think there are obvious cases (Leelah Alcorn for instance) where including a dead trans person's deadname would be grossly a case of real-world harm. I oppose Option 4 because its ambiguity as to the case of dead people is what got us into this mess in the first place. Loki (talk) 21:06, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  FWIW if it comes down to it I think I'd weakly support 3 over 2. But they're both very close for me. Loki (talk) 21:59, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2. I don't think PAL or use in a majority of sources is the right test, but it should be included if it is specifically relevant. For example, Brandon Teena mentions several facts about the deadname (its appearance in the paper, its use on the tombstone, its use among a list of other aliases) without stating what it is. At that point, we are clearly writing around a piece of information that would normally be mentioned, in order to avoid offence, which is contrary to WP:NOTCENSORED.--Trystan (talk) 21:10, 6 May 2023 (UTC) edit: Second choice would be Option 4 - no change at this time.--Trystan (talk) 12:50, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• (edit conflict × 2) Option 3 per DanielRigal, Bilorv and Sideswipe9th. This (like just about every policy on Wikipedia) does not preclude occasional exceptions existing; the only ones that comes to mind are (1) where a person's notability prior to transition is borderline or disputed, and (2) where the person expressed a clear preference for something different. In the case of 2 we should obviously respect that preference, in the case of 1 then I don't see any alternative to an editorial discussion, but that discussion should be framed in terms of their notability under that name and should minimise the use of the name in the discussion. I oppose option 1 as it is very likely to cause real-world harm without any encyclopaedic justification. I oppose option 4 as it will not resolve the issues. Thryduulf (talk) 21:09, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2. Always and Never are too prescriptive. There isn't always encyclopedic value in including former names. Conversely, there can be encyclopedic value in including former names. The privacy interest doesn't disappear immediately upon death, but it does fade over time, and eventually the encyclopedic value of including a former name may come to outweigh the residual privacy interest. Barnards.tar.gz (talk) 21:13, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4 After reading some of the comments below, I don't believe a change is needed. For living and deceased people, notable deadnames should be included per WP:DUE and WP:NOTCENSORED. For deceased subjects, the inclusion of non-notable deadnames should be decided based on editorial judgment, with no bias towards exclusion. Amending my vote from this. Some1 (talk) 13:42, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Small clarification (this was maybe a poor design choice on my part), option 2 would leave the “living” paragraph untouched. It would be inserted below that paragraph. Sorry for the confusion.—Jerome Frank Disciple 21:19, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3, weakly 2. Regardless of whether a subject is alive, non-notable deadnames are, by definition, miscellaneous WP:TRIVIA (regardless of how biographically/historically "important" trolls always insist they are), and publishing them (moreover, aggregating and verifying them) imparts little meaningful value to readers except those retrieving them for the sole purpose of causing harm. As Bilorv noted, the potential harm (e.g. to those that love and remember them) of making a trans person's deadname such a readily accessible piece of information (e.g. in the Google Knowledge Graph) does not immediately stop with death. I don't see an especially compelling reason why our criteria for inclusion should expire on a subject's death (certainly, if I were a BLP subject, I would not want that particular sword hanging over my head). –RoxySaunders 🏳️‍⚧️ (💬 • 📝) 22:10, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 I'm not sure why we need to complicate things and create a new standard. Jayron32 puts it well: Treating people with respect and decency doesn't stop at the moment they die. If there's an actual case where someone's deadname only becomes important after their death, we can make an exception in that case/craft a policy exception for those particular cases. Strongly oppose option 1. Galobtter (talk) 02:05, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2 as long as it’s relevant to the subject. As per MOS:SURNAME, we should refer to individuals principally by their surname after their full name (and deadname) is mentioned. Yasslaywikia (talk) 02:45, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 1 or 2 Option 4. The only argument for concealing former names that are reliably sourced would be privacy, and WP:BLP already handles the various concerns around former names and when privacy no longer becomes an issue after death. Former names clearly have encyclopedic value and should only be censored for privacy concerns under BLP. The MOS should not try to decide this issue. Cuñado ☼ - Talk 04:20, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Privacy concerns (nor any of the other reasons we don't deadname living people, including basic respect) do not somehow magically disappear after death, they can (and frequently do) impact on family members and friends of the deceased. Thryduulf (talk) 11:04, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Which is why our current BLP policy extends privacy considerations to the recently deceased. However, there does come a time when that consideration ends. Blueboar (talk) 11:55, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  In the case of deadnames and similar, the need for consideration extends for (at least) as long as close friends and family are still living. I also explicitly noted that the reason we do not deadname living people is not solely a privacy matter - basic respect for human beings does not end when someone ceases to be recently deceased. Thryduulf (talk) 16:33, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Thryduulf, I'm sure you've seen them, but read WP:GRATUITOUS and WP:NOTCENSORED and tell me how you could justify excluding the former name of a 2-year dead transgender individual because it might offend their living relative? Would you also exclude the images of Muhammad from his bio because it offends some people? Cuñado ☼ - Talk 02:23, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Images of Muhammaed have clear encyclopaedic justification, the same cannot be said of deadnames transgender individuals were never notable under. Per Gratuitous and other policies we should never go out of our way to offend people, regardless of why, and that includes never including deadnames without clear encyclopaedic justification. Wikipedia:Offensive material states: Offensive words [...] should not be included unless they are treated in an encyclopedic manner. Material that would be considered vulgar or obscene by typical Wikipedia readers should be used if and only if its omission would cause the article to be less informative, relevant, or accurate, and no equally suitable alternative is available.. This does not make any reference to the time since death - if it is encyclopaedically unjustifiable to include a subject's deadname when they are living or recently deceased, then it is encyclopaedically unjustifiable to do so two years after their death.

  See also Folly Mox's comments in the topic 2 discussion section. Thryduulf (talk) 09:24, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  That's cherry picking from the policy/guide. WP:GRATUITOUS also says, Wikipedia editors should not remove material solely because it may be offensive, unpleasant, or unsuitable for some readers Former names are not "vulgar or obscene" and they are included in almost every instance whether the former name was notable or not. Former names are "informative", "relevant", and "accurate", and "no suitable alternative is available". WP:NOTCENSORED, Wikipedia may contain content that some readers consider objectionable or offensive‍—even exceedingly so. Attempting to ensure that articles and images will be acceptable to all readers, or will adhere to general social or religious norms, is incompatible with the purposes of an encyclopedia. In this case, arguing to make a special case to exclude former transgender names is trying to make the encyclopedia conform to a social norm from gender theory that suggests it is exceedingly offensive to even mention, informatively, someone's prior name. Wikipedia should not conform. Cuñado ☼ - Talk 17:12, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2 or option 4 (in no order). While PLA isn’t the standard I would apply, it is good enough for now. My own perfect version would establish something like: “Mere verifiability is not enough to justify inclusion, but a preponderance of high-quality reliable sources is”. I am also very amenable to letting wiki-biographers of deceased persons decide on a page by page basis. I don’t particularly love the idea that the MOS should rule over any of this (the current deadname guideline is centred on BLP policy, as Cuñado points out), but I do have to remind myself how many pages of discussion we are generating day after day on this stuff. — HTGS (talk) 05:17, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4 - no change. Our current policy is good. It respects the subject, while at the same time allowing flexibility in complex situations. “Always” and “Never” are overly restrictive. Blueboar (talk) 11:55, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 or 2. I prefer option 3 as a default, but I think the "always" / "never" words are too strong. We should prefer option 3 in the vast majority of cases, while still allowing exceptions to be made if appropriate for the article in question. stwalkerster (talk) 12:25, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2a. I don't understand why this option was omitted from the RfC, but there are circumstances where a living trans or non-binary person was not notable under their deadname, but their deadname should be mentioned in the article due to the level of coverage it has received, such as in the Isla Bryson case. This allowance is also necessary to comply with WP:NPOV and WP:BALASP. I would note that this is already how things should function in practice; as the MOS cannot overrule a core policy, this guideline cannot prevent the inclusion of names which are necessary to comply with NPOV. BilledMammal (talk) 12:34, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Happy to explain. This RFC, as the title, questions, and proposals indicate, concerns the deadnames of deceased trans persons.--Jerome Frank Disciple 13:10, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  This appears to a duplication of our discussion below. BilledMammal (talk) 13:12, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Option 4. Thinking further, option 2 or any variant of it is not viable as it can result in WP:BALANCE violations; a name doesn't need to be mentioned in a majority of sources to be due for inclusion under NPOV. It is also impractical, as it is difficult to determine when a name is mentioned in the majority of sources, both due to the difficulty of such a broad evaluation and in terms of determining when a mention should be counted - for example, do passing mentions count? There is also the issue of when a name is mentioned in roughly half of sources; it could result in us switching whether we include the name every time the person is mentioned.

  Option 3 is not an option for the same reason, as well as being a violation of WP:NOTCENSORED. I'll note that for these reasons if there is a consensus for option 2 or 3 it will not resolve anything; as a guideline, MOS:GENDERID cannot overrule a policy (WP:NOT), and there can never be a consensus to overrule a core policy (WP:NPOV). BilledMammal (talk) 01:45, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3 - I think it would be good to have this formalized. If that lacks consensus, my second choice would be Option 2, even though I find it tough to imagine a case where the inclusion of a name a trans person was not notable under in an article would assist a reader's understanding of its subject. Hatman31 (talk) 20:51, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. If it's not notable enough to include when they were alive, it doesn't become notable when they die. ℰmi1y_⧼T·C⧽ 05:10, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4. I do not think it should be forbidden to include this information for deceased persons. I have not seen any good arguments as to why it should be forbidden; many of the arguments seem to boil down to a plea to impose ideological uniformity. As to whether it's important enough to include, that's an editorial decision at the article level. --Trovatore (talk) 05:19, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 seems the best option. I see nothing magical that happens when a transgender person dies that means we should somehow change the policy at that point. Restricting it to "living" just means that the trolls have a loophole when they can wait until a transgender person dies, and then pounce on the article. We want to discourage that behavior; basically if Wikipedia has determined the information is not encyclopedic for living persons, there's no rationale that suddenly makes it encyclopedic the second they die. Like all policy, I would allow for WP:IAR exceptions where edge cases exist. But for the standard operating procedure, we shouldn't change the way we handle transgender individuals the moment they die. --Jayron32 14:15, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"the moment they die"... WP:BDP exists for that. EddieHugh (talk) 20:25, 4 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2a / Option 2 / Option 4 per Trystan, HTGS, Barnards.tar.gz, BilledMammal and Trovatore. Adding on to their rationale, my thinking is simple - follow the majority of reliable sources. Strong oppose Option 3 as verging on WP:RGW by going against the majority of reliable sources (WP:DUEWEIGHT), and for all those claiming that reasonable exceptions may be carved out - I do not believe it. Far more likely that your proposed MOS:GENDERID will be used as a blunt instrument to prevent any exceptions. starship.paint (exalt) 14:24, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4, no change - I do not think there is merit in changing the current policy, which gives the editors flexibility to choose on a case-by-case basis. In particular:
  "Always" and "never" are overly restrictive. (WP:IAR exists, but we should only rarely require it.
  The "majority of reliable sources" is all very well if the majority and minority explicitly disagreed (eg about what the former name was, not whether it existed), but what if 5 sources do not mention the former name but 2 reliable sources do? In that case I think it fair to include the (undisputed) former name. Not everyone who wants to include reliably sourced factual biographical information is a "troll". Our policies, and our discussions, should be assuming good faith.
  WP:PLA is a good policy, but this is not its purpose. It is not intended as a limitation of what we include in an article, which is what option 2 is trying to do. Mitch Ames (talk) 14:57, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2 or 3. Multiple participants above have lucidly summarized my thoughts on the matter, especially HTGS (on the strengths of Option 2) and Thryduulf and RoxySaunders (on the strengths of Option 3). ModernDayTrilobite (talk • contribs) 16:23, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4 Is this really solving a problem? In the case of living people the BLP protection concerns can be real. However, when dealing with non-BLP cases why not handle it on a case by case basis? As was said above, always and never are overly restrictive and IAR is a rarely used pillar. It would seem that in most cases we are likely to get a result similar to what we get with a BLP case. In the few cases where we don't I would presume there is a good reason why thus we shouldn't prescribe a solution. Springee (talk) 16:51, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3: I supported the proposal in topic 1 and I think option 3 best comports with that proposal. voorts (talk/contributions) 21:40, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 If they weren't notable under the prior name, then there's no reason to include it. And this should never have had "living" in it in the first place, because that results in dumb scenarios where the moment one such person dies, then people are free to claim the name should be turned back to their deadname because this policy no longer applied. Which is idiotic. Hence, it should apply to all trans individuals, living or dead. Silverseren^C 22:04, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4 I'm not seeing any major reasoning as why we need to be overly instructive when can judge it on a case-by-case basis.  Spy-cicle💥  ^Talk? 02:41, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  That's fair! I think my concern is that the case-by-case discussions end up looking like policy/guideline discussions. To be sure, there's a tailored option here (option 2), but from looking at a few of these debates, what I've noticed is many people saying "a birth name is inherently relevant" and many people responding by saying "no it's not". Now, we might be having that discussion on a lot of pages, but that doesn't mean we're having a case-by-case discussion. In my best case scenario—the guidance here makes is so that we don't need to repeat policy/guideline debates on article talk pages each time this comes up.--Jerome Frank Disciple 13:13, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The "always" option is a red herring. It should have been clarified as something like "never forbidden". It's up to the editors of a particular article to figure out what is and is not relevant in that article. --Trovatore (talk) 17:24, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Believe it or not, the argument that a birth name is inherently relevant and encyclopedic isn't all that rare! Though, admittedly, in this discussion, we've only had a couple option 1 supporters—one of whom changed their vote. If you're looking for "unrestricted", the best option is probably option 4.--Jerome Frank Disciple 17:26, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I'm on record that birth names are "presumptively" of encyclopedic interest. I see them as on the same level of interest as names of parents, which we routinely report in the "early life" section, and I think the "early life" section is the right place to put birth names as well. But Option 1 is not an option for me — of course it's not the role of the MOS to say birth names should "always" be included. That's an editorial call, not a style issue. --Trovatore (talk) 17:31, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 1, followed by 4, followed by 2. I don't see why we should have to prove 'a majority of sources' use the person's birth name before we can include it in their Wikipedia article. If a good source reports the birth name, so should we. Most Wikipedia biographies have an 'Early life' section (even though most people weren't notable as children) and information on birth name/s should be included there if there is reliable sourcing. 𝕱𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖎𝖆 (talk) 13:29, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4, with option 2 as a best practice. Social mores change, and not everyone who we now call transgender would have thought of their birth name as a strictly private matter, as is common now. (As mentioned below, try writing about the Public Universal Friend without mentioning their former name and see how far you get.) I don’t think wiki policy/style should be strictly dogmatic either way. MarijnFlorence (talk) 13:52, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  As the person who originally brought up that example I do want to at least mention that there have been versions of the page that did not mention the PUF's former name. I don't think that they were an improvement, but it's definitely possible! Loki (talk) 17:31, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2, where the person was notable under a former name it is appropriate that it be mentioned. 4 is a second choice. Definitely not 3. Stifle (talk) 13:58, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Clarification: under all the options, where the person was notable under a former name it is appropriate that it be mentioned. The proposals only address what to do as to persons who were not notable under a former name.--Jerome Frank Disciple 14:05, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3 If a trans person is not notable under a given birth name, then we don't have any obligation to include it. It's always felt ghoulish to me that we can only consistently apply this principle (under current policy) to living transgender individuals.
  The reason I am against Option 2 is pretty straight forward: All it takes is for one reliable source to exist which says a deadname for someone to try and justify giving it WP:UNDUE weight. A more extreme rule (and yes, I recognize Option 3 might be considered by many to be extreme) is a much easier rule to follow. Here's an example:
  You have a transgender man named Gary Dark, and he dies (rest in peace). Mr. Dark was super popular and lived in a lot of places, so he has 10 different obituaries appearing in regional outlets across his country. 9 of them choose to omit Gary's deadname in his obituary, but the one in his hometown has more relaxed (ie. worse) editorial standards and lets it slip Gary Dark was born Alexa Dark. That one source can then be used to justify including something in our article even if 9 reliable sources made the active decision to omit Dark's deadname.
  Of course, exceptions will exist to this rule, but those can be handled in an actual case-by-case basis. The edge cases shouldn't form the basis for most of our policy ("hard cases make bad law" as the saying goes). In most cases, it's practically never relevant to mention someone's deadname if they weren't notable under that name. If they were notable under their deadname, then Option 3 wouldn't effect them.
  That's my logic, at least. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 01:53, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Sounds like you are mischaracterising Option 2, MJL, which says particularly considering the majority of reliable sources discussing said person ... but here you are saying ... All it takes is for one reliable source to exist ... That one source can then be used to justify including something in our article even if 9 reliable sources made the active decision to omit Dark's deadname. starship.paint (exalt) 13:15, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Starship.paint: Option 2 has a large carve out: if such inclusion would satisfy the principle of least astonishment. What that means is going to be subject to endless debate. If, using my example, Gary went to an all-girls high school, would that satisfy the guideline? You could easily make the arguement that a reader might be astonished that Gary Dark went to an all-girls high school.

  I don't think the policy in Option 2 is as clear as it is in Option 3. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 16:43, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @MJL: - in this case, with a small minority of sources using Alexa Dark, we could simply write in article text that While still presenting as female, Gary Dark attended an all-girls high school, Stonebridge High School. Wouldn't this be able to solve the problem? Now, definitely, Option 3 is clearer, but clarity is not the only metric that we should be using. I afford weight to.... WP:DUEWEIGHT. starship.paint (exalt) 01:16, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  IMO that would be ok, but MOS:GENDERID seems to specifically discourage acknowledging that the person ever presented as a gender other than their current identification, recommending ambiguous constructions instead to obscure the issue. Anomie⚔ 12:20, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  MOS:GENDERID seems to specifically discourage acknowledging that the person ever presented as a gender other than their current identification — I disagree. GENDERID includes (with my emphasis added)

  "Outside the main biographical article, generally do not discuss in detail changes of a person's name or gender presentation unless pertinent. Where a person's gender may come as a surprise, explain it on first occurrence, without overemphasis."

  I.e., it is OK to mention it in the main biographical article, and/or if it would other be a surprise. Mitch Ames (talk) 23:28, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The very next sentence after what you quote specifically and directly prescribes the use of ambiguous constructions to avoid "confusion". The example used there seems unlikely to be present outside of the main biographical article (unless maybe it's in an article about a spouse, which raises even more concerns). Anomie⚔ 00:47, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  [tangent] I have wondered occasionally whether this bit in GENDERID effectively takes a philosophical stand against gender fluidity. We wrote it from the POV that a trans woman was a girl/woman from birth, and so should not be described as a boy who grew up to be a woman. Gender-fluid people do not share that belief (as applied to themselves) and might not appreciate our insistence on the most recent gender as the only "real" one. (I don't know how to fix it without making things worse overall.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:37, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @WhatamIdoing: I've had that concern as well. Fortunately the guideline as written does allow subjects to "opt out" of the past-pronoun provision, and, while it doesn't have the same clause about deadnames, I honestly think that's more because no one's ever thought to put it in than because there's a strong consensus that trans people can't consent to having pre-notability deadnames used. (I've wavered regarding Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, who fairly frequently mentions her pre-notability deadname, posts pre-transition pictures, etc., and have only held off on ignoring MOS:DEADNAME there for reasons of WP:DUE.) Personally, as an agender person who does not see xemself as having "always been a woman" or anything close to that and whose post-transition name is just a feminized form of xyr pre-transition name, I've jotted down somewhere that if my pre-transition self is ever referred to in mainspace, I don't care what name or pronouns are used. -- Tamzin^{[cetacean needed]} (she|they|xe) 18:49, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @WhatamIdoing: You are not wrong. I think the major failing of MOS:GENDERID is that it's a victim of WP:POLE and poorly-executed compromises. I'm going to resist the urge to go into detail since it's not what this conversation is about, but I would like to make it clear that I agree with you. –MJL ‐Talk‐^☖ 05:08, 20 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  No, that wouldn’t be good wording. It should be, “before transitioning from female to male”. A Tree In A Box (talk) 02:55, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  All it takes is for one reliable source to exist... Sadly this is something that already happens with the current version of the guideline, much less option 2. Earlier this year I created an article about a recently killed transgender teen in the UK. About two days after the teen's death, both the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph amended their early reporting to include the teen's deadname. While both papers later removed the deadname after backlash, in the days that followed, a few editors tried to add the teen's deadname citing archived copies of the article from The Times.

  At present, that name can be excluded per WP:BDP, as the teen was not notable prior to transitioning and only achieved notability because of her death. But at some point between now and February 2025, BDP ceases to apply. So what happens then? Under option 2, an editor could make a PLA based argument for inclusion either in good faith or bad to include that teen's deadname, as that teen's killing is being investigated as a possible hate crime due to her gender identity. Even if that discussion is settled by an RfC, because consensus can change, there is always the future potential for another editor to resume or restart the past discussions on inclusion or exclusion of that deadname.

  I'm personally of the opinion that we don't need to ever include that teen's deadname. It's not necessary to understand that she was killed, nor depending on the outcome of the investigation and trial why she was killed. It doesn't add any information that is of encyclopaedic value to the article, and would only serve to intrude upon the privacy of grieving family and friends. But there are editors, both in good faith and in bad, who believe the opposite to myself.

  The problem is that both PLA and WEIGHT is that they are subjective measures, not objective measures. If you ask a hundred editors what constitutes either, you will likely get 100 different answers, because they are both largely defined on individual editorial opinion and discretion. What option 3 provides over option 2 is that option 3 provides both clarity and continuity of the guideline. It closes a loophole in the guidance that currently exists, where upon the death of a trans or non-binary subject who was not notable prior to transition, that name cannot be included solely because of the fact that they are now dead. If the same person was notable prior to transitioning, option 3 would result in no change to the existing guidance, because their deadname would already be included in their respective article.

  Of course, even if option 3 is the version that finds consensus, WP:IAR still exists to handle the small minority of cases where there is a compelling reason to include a deadname after the subject's death that we otherwise could not include during the subject's life. But the American legal maxim of hard cases make bad law is precisely why the guideline should cover the vast majority of articles where (in my opinion) a deadname for a trans or non-binary person who was not notable prior to transitioning should not be considered for inclusion solely because the article subject is now dead. Sideswipe9th (talk) 18:38, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  So, I'm ... really hesitant to discuss this here, and I've only recently realized it, but it's occurred to me that "notability" might not be the correct test. WP:NOTABLE concerns the threshold for determining who gets their own article. I'm not sure it makes sense to have notability govern deadnames outside of biography subjects.

  Obviously, these cases are rare, but consider a person who commits a high-profile crime, transitions post-sentencing, and then dies. (This is not based on the current high-profile RFC involving a person who transitioned before committing a crime; rather, it relates to another article on WP.) Such a person probably wouldn't be notable, before or after transitioning. Chances are, the crime would warrant an article, but not the person who committed it, per WP:PERPETRATOR (part of the notability policy). But, in all likelihood, the vast majority of articles about such a person would use the person's name at the time of the event, not the post-transition name. That's the type of situation where I think Option 2 has some utility.

  I'm not sure there'd be a serious argument for inclusion of the deadname in the article/situation you mentioned under option 2—by my read, PLA independently wouldn't warrant inclusion, and certainly the "majority of reliable sources" wouldn't, either. Sure, it's a standard rather than a rule, so I guess there's always a chance, but, given WP:IAR, aren't all guidelines and policies standards? Yes, consensus can change and arguments can repeat, but that's just as true regarding a PLA argument as a IAR argument, no? --Jerome Frank Disciple 19:15, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  To me, the reason for the link between deadname and notability is pretty obvious. Consider that the name of a notable person is very likely going to appear in multiple articles beyond just that person's biography. For example, if the person is a prolific actor, author, musician, or other creative type, their name is going to appear in articles about works to which they contributed. However it's not uncommon for the initial works of a person to be notable long before the person themselves achieves notability. If the guideline didn't link the use of the name with notability, then the primary article about the person might say "Jane Doe (born 1 January 1990), is a [insert nationality here] actress...", while works that involve Jane might credit her as "John Doe".

  by my read, PLA independently wouldn't warrant inclusion Sure, but PLA is pretty subjective, and your or my reading of it is not the only reading. Even majority of RS is somewhat subjective, as some editors will consider that to be 50%+1, while others would require a supermajority of 55% or more.

  but that's just as true regarding a PLA argument as a IAR argument, no? Invoking IAR, whether successfully or not, is a much higher threshold than invoking PLA. In my experience editors would be far more likely to invoke a PLA based exception to an IAR one. With PLA you just need to demonstrate that inclusion of a fact satisfies the base principle, but with an IAR based exception you need to demonstrate how inclusion improves the article in a manner that's currently being prevented by application of a policy or guideline that otherwise prevents it. Those two are not always the same thing. Sideswipe9th (talk) 19:48, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2 This approach most harmonizes with our BLP policies. Whether something should be included in a bio should be a basis for a discussion and Option 2 does not *force* this to be included, merely allow a discussion of it. Option 3 basically forces us to censor information even when it's pertinent. Option 1 would be unacceptable for the same reason in the opposite direction. CoffeeCrumbs (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 04:23, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2 - The basis of the current status quo is that there is a major privacy value ascribed that overrides aggregating available knowledge. A change to option 3 would ascribe a higher protection than BLP/CRIME. I don't think that comparison holds up, and as such option 2 is best. Nosebagbear (talk) 10:27, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 but... The problem with not mentioning the dead name on grounds of no pre-change notability is that it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy by barring editors unaware of the dead name of the subject from discovering any potential notability established in sources published prior to the name change. We should respect a subject's preferences even after death when it comes to their name, but we should not allow ourselves to sever their identity from their past, which could include possibly notable and contextualising events. The solution IMO is to leave a sourced note of the subject's deadname at the top of the talk page so that anyone looking to improve the article will have access to this information when searching for sources. Redirects from the dead name must also be kept as these allow people with notable information to find the article on which this information belongs. small jars tc 13:09, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 Same as for living people: if the person isn't notable under their deadname, there is no reason to add it. Again, no need to make a special policy against dead people. Chaotic Enby (talk) 14:57, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2: I find it hard to say that a person's original name is trivia. That said, we should treat such things with sensitivity and respect which is why I oppose putting any sort of deadnames in the lede or bolding them save for cases where the person was explicitly famous before transitioning. However, with Sophie for example, there are several national-level publications that use her original name, not just a few. For that, I feel that putting her name in the early life section is not any more undue than her exact birthday which has less relevance, less coverage, and is equally as likely to hurt their privacy. And because there is no pushback against exact birthdays for several of the same reasons argued above, it seems that many are here to right a great wrong. (Obviously, the two situations are not the same, but it does help highlight some of why I feel the arguments above are flimsy.) While intentional deadnaming should not be done at all on Wikipedia, and trolls should be banned at the first infraction, Wikipedia is also not censored. Including things that are true, used by reliable sources, and where the person is deceased so as not to get personally denigrated or have their privacy revealed (speaking from a purely pragmatic point) is not offensive in the slightest, especially if it is de-emphasized. (Also, for someone like Sophie that had a small discography under her birth name, I see value in providing the original name. You should not hide a past identity in pursuit of niceness. Note that this proposal is not specific to Sophie, but she provides a nice example of when to oppose.) Why? I Ask (talk) 15:58, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Just to clarify: The Sophie example was used in light of the RFC on that page (although I have to admit I missed that there was a no consensus finding there). Obviously the examples should be paradigmatic cases, so if there's a less controversial example, I'd personally be okay replacing Sophie (and given that the examples are meant to illustrate the proposals ... and it's not the case that the proposals are meant to adjudicate the examples ... I don't think such replacement would count as a change to the RFC). That said, I don't really see any evidence of a real controversy concerning the exclusion of Sophie's deadname.--Jerome Frank Disciple 16:45, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  It's all good, but I think it really shows that there are not a lot of paradigmatic cases. While there are good intentions behind wishing to respect the wishes of the subject to the highest extent, it is often hard to find a case where one transitions later in life and does not already have some coverage of their deadname in their professional career (which, in that case, I would support its inclusion given a verifiable source). I think there are plenty of cases where I would absolutely oppose using the birth name (e.g., Leelah Alcorn or Blake Brockington), but for many (especially in the arts where they may have published under an earlier name), it provides some helpful encyclopedic context. Why? I Ask (talk) 17:05, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The examples are, at least for the purposes of this RfC, largely illustrative for how the proposed change would apply. There may well be better examples to use, and those could be substituted in, either now or after the RfC closes if that option finds consensus, without altering the intent of that proposal. Leelah or Blake would probably be a better example than Sophie, and I don't think you'd find any objections to adjusting the example against inclusion of a deadname to use one or both. Sideswipe9th (talk) 19:11, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3 per per DanielRigal, Bilorv and Sideswipe9th. ser! ^{(chat to me - see my edits)} 18:37, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 per a mix of the arguments made above. I think the wording about a majority of reliable sources in option 2 is setting out the wrong criterion; deciding how much weight to give any information isn't just about counting how many sources mention it, but also about how much emphasis they each give it and other considerations. XOR'easter (talk) 19:06, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. If someone's deadname wasn't well-known, there's no reason to bring it up in their article, living or dead shouldn't matter. Whether there will be an abundance of clear-cut cases to apply this guideline to is entirely a different matter. TheSavageNorwegian 21:52, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4: Options 1, 2 and 3 contradict NPOV, specifically WP:BALANCE, which requires us to treat details proportional to their treatment in reliable sources. None of the proposed texts follow policy. RAN1 (talk) 09:50, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 per Thryduulf, Jayron, and MJL. I'm not entirely against option 2 in principle, but it seems unlikely for reliable sources refer to the subject only by their deadname (thus generating astonishment) unless they were in fact notable under that name. I realize that some editors think this is overly prescriptive, but I agree with those who have argued that additional breathing room is unnecessary and will inevitably lead to disruptive editing. I can't say I support a race to start inserting deadnames to articles six months after trans person dies, followed by incessant wikilawyering over PLA, which was never intended to be a policy or guideline in itself. Folly Mox also makes a salient point: these decisions have broader ramifications than the subject and their family alone, which should not be overlooked. Barring exceptional circumstances, the use of non-notable deadnames is not encyclopedic and would only discredit the project. —Rutebega (talk) 17:07, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4, second choice Option 2. We are an encyclopedia; we're here to summarize the world's knowledge. We are not here to make people sad, so we do make compromises to that end, but the dead can not be made sad. Their friends, relatives, and completely unrelated activists can be sad on their behalf, but if we allow everyone and their brother to veto our content, then eventually we will have no content. (Trust me, there are numerous people out there that are eager to say: the very existence of Wikipedia hurts me personally, deeply, and fatally - delete it all!) We need to find a place to draw the line, and "living" seems a good place to draw it. --GRuban (talk) 17:45, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 out of these but in my view the better solution would be to remove "living transgender or non-binary" and other gender/sexuality references to end up with If a person was not notable under a former name, it should not be included in any page... and A person's birth name or former name (professional name, stage name, or pseudonym) should be included in the lead sentence of their main biographical article only if they were notable under that name. Furthermore, since it makes no sense to have the resulting stuff in a section entitled "Gender identity", it would probably be appropriate to merge it with WP:CHANGEDNAME. casualdejekyll 21:59, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 I've seen several trans people, some of whom were at least plausibly notable enough for an article, explicitly say on social media that they don't want a Wikipedia article because they're afraid people will use it to broadcast their deadname to the world. MOS:GENDERID has helped with that, but if you can add non-notable deadnames to an article after the subject dies, that sentiment isn't going to go away. And it's a lot harder to ethically write about trans people on Wikipedia if they actively don't want an article because of our policies around deadnames. (Not to mention that there are plenty of people who will want to add a deadname to a trans person's article as soon as they've been dead long enough for purely bigoted reasons, not for any reason related to building an encyclopedia, and that's something we should strongly discourage.) TheCatalyst31 ^{Reaction•Creation} 00:53, 12 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. Option 2 could lead to arguments around the inclusion of birth names for almost any trans or nonbinary person. there should be no ambiguity that the name itself needs to be notable for it to be included. Tekrmn (talk) 19:31, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. We shouldn't much care about the subject's feelings -- they don't have any, cos they're dead. So the default is to perform our remit of informing as much as we can. (However, it would be nice to consider the feelings of the recently bereaved, so like "only if they've been dead five years" (say) would be good. Herostratus (talk)
• Option 4. If I had my druthers, I'd strike the entirety of MOS:GENDERID per WP:RGW. WP:NPOV can perfectly handle this entire scenario from start to finish: this is just unnecessary instruction creep. —Locke Cole • t • c 04:51, 12 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4, that the guideline does not and should not apply outside BLP. Decisions about inclusion or removal of content within an article should follow generally applicable principles and policies in the same way they apply to any other content. In particular, those policies are not to be conflated with notability. The guideline should remain rooted in BLP (including the recently deceased, as defined under WP:BDP) and not in freestanding recourse to respect and disrespect that would run afoul of WP:NOTCENSORED. I also agree with Mitch Ames on why Option 2 is a poor rule. Adumbrativus (talk) 06:51, 12 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 preferably or Option 2 per WP:DUE. If they were not notable under their old names there is no encyclopedic value in including it. Yet since the policy right now is needlessly vague about deceased trans people, editors have this same endless fight over several trans articles, including people trying to change a trans biography right after the subject dies. Rab V (talk) 14:26, 12 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4 preferably or option 2 I think WP:DUE and WP:NOTCENSORED provide enough guidance here. Option 3 attempts to carve an exemption to NOTCENSORED by saying that actually mentioning deadnames is SO offensive‍ NOTCENSORED should not apply. We really should not be treating different types of potentially objectionable content to different standards. CandyScythe (talk) 16:54, 12 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3; I see no reason why we should necessarily split the difference here. Privacy concerns are a sufficient, but not necessary, reason why we shouldn't include non-notable deadnames. Sceptre (talk) 16:27, 13 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2 as removing the old name entirely creates a barrier that could completely prevent readers from finding information prior to name change. (Note, I didn't say prior to transition, as name change and transition can happen at different times.) Remember that Wikipedia is not a reliable source itself, it is a compilation of reliable sources, and one of the benefits of Wikipedia is as a gateway to reliable sources elsewhere, which would be impeded by an iron-clad policy of "remove deadnames" of those who were not notable before name change. Even if a person is not notable yet, there could potentially be many sources about them. —Lights and freedom (talk ~ contribs) 22:19, 13 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 or 4. Option 1 is flat-out unenforceable -- if someone's deadname has not been reported, then this wording all but requires editors to either do WP:OR to dig it up and/or to rely on questionable sources (people databases, etc.) Option 2 gets into all kinds of problems about recentism and availability -- there is no guarantee that "the majority of sources" will be evenly distributed pre- and post-transition, or equally accessible -- and seems likely to lead to cherry-picking or mischaracterizing sources. Gnomingstuff (talk) 22:32, 13 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Just a side comment on your objection to option 2… if the majority of sources are from pre-transition, then it is highly likely that the subject is notable pre-transition (and thus the deadname should at least be mentioned somewhere in the article, per our current guidance). Blueboar (talk) 23:08, 13 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 2 per NOTCENSORED. -Ad Orientem (talk) 23:16, 14 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3, per DanielRigal, Sideswipe9th, and the reasons I gave in pre-RFC discussion, summarized as: the reasons for not including non-notable deadnames don't change if the person dies. Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information, and regularly excludes not only gratuitously offensive things people want to include for bad reasons, but even perfectly inoffensive but non-notable things; in pre-RFC discussion, people argued a deadname would help genealogical researchers: so would knowing the person's genealogy (indeed, that would be far more helpful!), yet in a recent RfC about COPHERITAGE, everyone seemed to agree that despite being NOTCENSORED, Wikipedia is not the place for non-notable genealogies. Likewise, I've yet to find an article where a celebrity's non-notable street address is included: despite the help it'd be to the mythical innocent genealogists some people say deadnames would help, it's not notable information. If a person was not notable under their deadname, then even under the aforelinked existing policies and guidelines, it should not be included, and clear language to this effect would be helpful in resolving the many redundant discussions which otherwise come up. -sche (talk) 01:55, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. I honestly don't have much to say besides what has already been said: respect for one's gender doesn't end once a person dies. I wanna point out that the living qualifier was added without consensus by Sdkb in 2020. LilianaUwU ^{(talk / contributions)} 03:41, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I wanna point out that the living qualifier was added without consensus by Sdkb in 2020. This was discussed here and refined here, where @Sdkb: participated with other editors at the time. The initial RFC closure was only cautiously in agreement for aligning it with BLP, not expanding it to all living or dead individuals. —Locke Cole • t • c 16:43, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 1. One of the difference between articles about living people and deceased people is that official records such as birth certificates may be used for deceased people but not for living people. Names before a gender transition are useful in facilitating research among offical records. Jc3s5h (talk) 18:38, 15 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. If a person was not notable under their deadname during their lifetime, that name is trivial and its inclusion is undue (2nd pillar). MOS:GENDERID is a guideline and many of the arguments in favor of Option 2 point to outlier cases which would be allowed as occasional exceptions. Option 3 is a simpler solution, far easier to implement and understand. gobonobo ^{+ c} 16:25, 17 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 options 2 and 3 are very simmilar and 3 is just simpler. Further it avoids the weird situation of arguing about whether or not to include a deadname after someone dies—blindlynx 19:32, 17 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2, though option 4 is also acceptable. I have concerns about the application of MOS:GENDERID and the "do not include deadnames for living people who were not notable under that name" (for example, when and how is notability established?), but I feel that the rule itself is acceptable, given its inherent ties to WP:BLP and how Keffals was targeted and harassed merely for being transgender. The concerns over harm to people necessarily cannot apply to dead people, and thus I oppose extending the rule to cover dead people as well. However, any such name is going to need really good sourcing to be acceptable. -BRAINULATOR9 (TALK) 19:45, 17 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2. I think it's reasonable to take a case-by-case approach, and I think it's frequently encyclopedic to include the birth name. Including it in this way is not disrespectful, just informative. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:13, 18 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 strongly preferred, but weak support for Option 2 if, for whatever reason, option 3 wasn't a runner. We do not need to know the deadname of someone who was never notable under that name. Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 22:18, 18 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 per Thryduulf, Jayron32, MJL, Sideswipe9th, et al, with a weak support for 2 should 3 fail. XAM2175 ^(T) 12:18, 19 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2. We should include deadnames if and only if an overwhelming majority of reliable sources include the dead name as a notable second name. And per BRAINULATOR9 and Tryptofish above. — Shibbolethink ^{(♔ ♕)} 20:09, 20 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4, no change because the current policy allows us the flexibility required to be both considerate and accurate. Consider the case of Chelsea Manning who has said that she wanted female identity from childhood. Had she disclosed that it would have been impossible for her to be hired and obtain the security clearances she obtained. To be accurate and reflect the discrimination she faced we need to mention both. She also illustrates a time issue: the events which made her famous were carried out when openly male in Jan and Feb 2010 but her disclosure of gender issues happened after this. In this case subsequent events make Chelsea and her preferable for most of the article but had everything happened when ostensibly male and particularly if she had died with only an after death biography disclosing the gender aspects, everything notable would have been done as a male yet the most recent identity might be an entirely unknown female one. Privacy issues applying to non-notable living deadnames might then apply to the non-notable deceased most recent name and gender identity and favour not mentioning that much or maybe at all. The current policy provides the flexibility needed to sensibly and respectfully handle nuances of these sorts, while still using what a current still notable individual prefers most of the time. Jamesday (talk) 23:52, 20 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 2. No compelling reason to include a deadname for anyone who was not notable by that name before transition, unless absolutely necessary for clarification. Honoring chosen names is a matter of respect for all trans people. Funcrunch (talk) 00:09, 21 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4, there is no such thing as a dead person's privacy concerns unless we make some really out there statements about reincarnation. Such a precedent could have impacts orders of magnitude larger than those who came up with this wording (as good intentioned as it is) forsee (for example the extension of WP:BLPCRIME to the dead). Horse Eye's Back (talk) 17:01, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Why would extending BLPCRIME to the dead be a bad thing? We should not be stating in wikivoice that anybody, living or dead, committed a crime without their having been convicted of it in a court of law. Also, see the very many explanations above about how deadnaming non-living people can have privacy implications for the living and the very many explanations of how privacy is not the only reason not to deadname people. Thryduulf (talk) 17:56, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  That is certainly an extreme position, the community has repeatedly rejected it and restricted the scope to the living and recently deceased. I look forward to your major rewrites of the bios of such unconvicted dead criminals as Adolf Hitler and Stephen Paddock. I'm sure that won't be perceived by the community as disruptive (sarcasm in case you hadn't caught it). Horse Eye's Back (talk) 18:16, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  As much as I don't want to indulge Goodwin, the only conviction we definitively mention in Hitler's article is his 1923 conviction for high treason. We do also mention that one British academic has said he was on the UN's list of war criminals along with a string of indictments, but that is attributed to that academic and stops short of actually describing him as a convicted war criminal. So ironically it seems that yes, Hitler's article seems to largely follow BLPCRIME.

  The Paddock example seems to fit your general point however. Sideswipe9th (talk) 19:10, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The lead says "He was closely involved in military operations throughout the war and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust: the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims." which appears to be asserting in wikivoice that he was central to the perpetration of a crime (genocide) for which he was never convicted, not just alleged to be central to the perpetration of a crime for which he was never convicted. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 19:21, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Interestingly that's actually covered under the war crime indictments. Though you do have to dig into the sources to find that. Sideswipe9th (talk) 19:28, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  It seems I should have done more than skimmed the intro of Adolf Hitler before making my sacrifice to Goodwin and his Law (although on a technicality while Hitler was invoked nothing was explicitly compared to him so as far as Goodwin is concerned we have something of a meeting the devil at a crossroads situation here). Horse Eye's Back (talk) 20:47, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  While I don't think the addition rests on the extension of privacy claims to the dead, and would in fact oppose such an extension, neither of your examples are good. Sideswipe9th has already covered why Hitler isn't a good example, but Stephen Paddock is covered by the fact that he was caught in the act. WP:BLPCRIME does not strictly require a conviction for this exact reason.

  It's actually hard to come up with a case of an article where we talk about a dead person who wasn't a public figure committing a crime where the evidence they did so was not overwhelming. In most cases, when we talk about a historical figure who wasn't a public figure committing a crime, it's because they're primarily notable for the crime. So even if that is the precedent we're setting (and, I repeat, I don't think it is), I don't really think it's a problem. Loki (talk) 20:51, 23 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Thryduulf, consider Category:Murder-suicides. Consider Category:Suicide bombing. IMO we should be stating, in wikivoice, that some people have committed crimes despite the absence of a legal process during their lives that declared them to be murderers. WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:50, 24 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  There would though, presumably, be some legal process after their death (e.g. a coroner's inquest) that determined they were responsible for the killing(s). If there wasn't then we should be phrasing it in terms of reporting what the reliable sources say. I accept that "convicted in a court of law" is probably too extreme, but the principal of not asserting something in Wikivoice about the dead that we would not assert about the living stands. However this is all tangential to the topic at hand. Thryduulf (talk) 00:25, 25 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  There would though, presumably, be some legal process after their death ...in modern times, in developed countries... WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:06, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  AFAICT everyone in those two categories is primarily notable for the crime. If they're primarily notable for the crime, and we have strong enough sourcing connecting them to the crime in question, we don't actually need a conviction, even if they were alive. Loki (talk) 01:49, 25 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 4 with Option 2 as a second, inferior option. MOS:GENDERID is a form of censorship of the encyclopaedia. While as a general rule Wikipedia is not censored, the community has determined, for appropriate reasons of the personal privacy of living people, that this censorship is acceptable. Those reasons do not apply to dead people. No possible harm, mental or physical, can come to the dead article subject as a result of the content of their biography. No compelling reason has been suggested to censor the encyclopaedia in this manner, so we ought not to do so. Cambial — foliar❧ 21:06, 25 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4 or Option 2, if we have to make this explicit. Wikipedia is not censored, and information being offensive to some or even many is not a reason for omission. BLP makes a specific and targeted exception of this for the protection of living people's privacy. Thus, we should include information on birth names when it would benefit the encyclopedia. At the same time, verifiability does not guarantee inclusion, and there may be an article-level consensus to omit an article subject's birth name if it does not improve the article. Overall, there should not be a carve-out for these specific cases — they can be handled on a case-by-case basis. Tol (talk | contribs) @ 23:55, 25 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 is far and away the most respectful. As someone who is trans, I desperately hope my deadname is not used after I die. Most trans folk I know feel the same. Respect does not end at death. --Nerd1a4i (they/them) (talk) 17:07, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The only time respect is relevant for writing an encyclopedia is when it comes to respecting the weight our sources give aspects of a subject. Otherwise, "respect" is not relevant here. That way lies WP:OR and content that runs afoul of WP:NPOV. This is not, and cannot be about "respect". Our sources dictate what and how we cover topics. Even BLP is really redundant to this notion. We don't write articles because they make us feel good or bad about a topic, we write them to provide knowledge to our readers. Diverting from what reliable sources cover (especially if they cover it in-depth and it is WP:DUE) is a position incompatible with writing a neutral encyclopedia. —Locke Cole • t • c 17:25, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  we aren't talking about the content of the article, we're talking about the words we use to refer to to subjects. we are also discussing using those words only when there is reliable sourcing. WP:OR certainly doesn't apply here. WP:NPOV is also not applicable, as there is no POV on how someone identifies or what name or pronouns they go by. there are people who don't believe in the validity of trans identities, sure, but it cannot be argued that, for example, Elliot Page goes by the name Elliot Page and he/him pronouns and identifies as a man. additionally, this is a discussion about the removal of the word living in the existing MOS (and two grammatical changes) so even if OP and NPOV were relevant, at best they are in conflict with the existing MOS and this proposed change would not effect that relationship. Tekrmn (talk) 19:29, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Didn't the person go by "Aiden Hale?" In one of the texts in the opening for the 2023 Nashville school shooting says, Aiden Hale (born Audrey Elizabeth Hale). Cwater1 (talk) 20:02, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  forgot to mention that it can be confusing. We don't want to be in violation of the Wikipedia policy. You can get a warning or get a ban for a mistake. Cwater1 (talk) 20:03, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I'm not sure why you think I'm talking about the Nashville shooter, but the person I was referring to is Elliot Page. Tekrmn (talk) 20:27, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  How we refer to subjects of articles or individuals named in subjects is indeed content of the article. WP:NOR and WP:NPOV are very much applicable, especially if we're deviating from what is available in reliable sources. Elliot Page would not be a concern as current reliable sources refer to him as that (he's also still alive and famous, so the sourcing isn't really an issue with him). —Locke Cole • t • c 12:37, 28 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  as I said, nobody is proposing that we start using certain names or pronouns for people without reliable sourcing. with that in mind, can you explain why you feel that NOR and NPOV apply here, and why that should be a concern in this discussion about simply removing the word "living" from an existing section of the MOS? Tekrmn (talk) 15:24, 28 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  can you explain why ... No. We're talking about the !vote above which uses, as its sole basis, this arbitrary (and therefore WP:OR) notion of "respect" for subjects rather than any WP:PAG-based reason. —Locke Cole • t • c 18:49, 28 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Well, to be quite frank, I think it comes down to this: this is an encyclopedia, whose goal is to provide accurate, well-sourced knowledge. I wholeheartedly agree. But I see avoiding someone's deadname as much as possible as such a fundamental decency that it goes beyond this. You say my vote is invalid because it does not cite WP:PAG; what is the point of this discussion except to write the policy? But very well; I cite the fifth pillar, that Wikipedia has no firm rules, and to some extent the fourth pillar. I know the fourth pillar is discussing how we should interact with each other as editors; I assume you will dismiss this. But I am citing the fourth pillar because of the spirit, not the letter: we treat one another with decency; we assume good faith; we are kind (or at least, we try to be these things). As we document the world we live in, we value neutrality and good sourcing as an extension of this respect, in a sense! We do not want to be unfair to either side of the story, which is why we take WP:NPOV. To provide the deadname when it is unnecessary is taking a firm stance against the subject of the article; it is not neutral nor is it respectful. (Also, I do find it slightly disappointing that your immediate response was to call respect in the form of not using a deadname original research. I can provide many citations if you would like about the harmful effects using someone's deadname has, and how it is broadly found to be disrespectful.) Apologies for the monologue. Nerd1a4i (they/them) (talk) 04:08, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  But I see avoiding someone's deadname as much as possible as such a fundamental decency that it goes beyond this. But it cannot, in fact, be why we do anything here. Logic like this is precisely why WP:NOTCENSORED exists (we don't sugar coat, hide, or otherwise limit what our articles cover out of a fear of offending someone, or a sense of "decency"). You say my vote is invalid I never said your !vote was invalid... there's a difference between questioning the wisdom of a !vote and saying it doesn't count whatsoever. The fifth pillar is IMO the weakest one to base any decision on. Refer back to WP:NOTCENSORED. We cannot pick and choose to "respect" certain subjects, topics or individuals over others, that is a de facto violation of WP:NPOV. Names, including deadnames, are "necessary" precisely because our sources also document them. Should we include them if it's just unreliable sources? Likely not. But if significant reliable sources include these identifiers, then so should we. And the reasons to include are far more relevant for something with historical weight like Wikipedia than the reasons to exclude (ancestry research, genealogy, etc). Also, I do find it slightly disappointing that your immediate response was to call respect in the form of not using a deadname original research. I cited WP:NOR because then we're doing our own "research" in so far as how to identify a subject, perhaps contradicting the very sources we rely on. I'm aware of the potential harmful effects. —Locke Cole • t • c 05:59, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  WP:NOTCENSORED states that "Content will be removed if it is judged to violate Wikipedia's policies (especially those on biographies of living persons[...]"

  this is one of the ways in which using the word respect doesn't do justice to the intention of this guideline. GENDERID is about respect, but using someone's dead name is inherently disrespectful in a way that using a cisgender person's former name isn't. it's also about protection. trans and nonbinary people are a marginalized community and their deadnames are frequently used to harm them. I do think that the guideline should apply to anyone who has changed their name, but I think it makes perfect sense that the guideline was created to apply to trans and nonbinary people.

  I also want to point out, once again, that nobody is proposing we do anything without reliable sourcing or that we omit someone's deadname when they were notable under it. Tekrmn (talk) 06:14, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  You might want to look over WP:BLUDGEON. You keep inserting yourself into threads between myself and another editor (and then ascribing their words to me). I trust them to be able to respond on their own without your assistance. —Locke Cole • t • c 06:30, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  It's possible I addressed the same point too many times and should have stepped away from this discussion sooner. that being said, I do only see two places below the original comment where I responded to a comment that wasn't directed at me, and this is a public forum, not a private conversation. I do apologize @Nerd1a4i if you felt talked over. Tekrmn (talk) 18:00, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I have found your comments quite helpful Tekrmn, and I'd thank Locke Cole, in the spirit of allowing me to speak for myself, to allow me to let someone else know if I do feel talked over. (To be clear: I think Tekrmn is contributing important points to this discussion, and I think Locke Cole is dancing around wikilawyering.) Nerd1a4i (they/them) (talk) 18:15, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  it seems that your issue is with the existing guideline. this discussion isn't about whether or not trans people deserve respect it's about whether the respect we have already decided they deserve should be allowed to be revoked when they die. from my perspective, the policies you've mentioned do not apply to the existing guideline and are certainly not relevant to the discussion of removing the word living from that guideline. if you can't explain how the policies you've cited are applicable here, despite the fact that both are explicitly about the content of articles, I don't see how we can apply them. especially given WP:NOTPART and, once again, the fact that we are discussing a one word change to an existing guideline, not the guideline as a whole.

  I am not familiar with any existing policy or guideline that states we need policy or guideline reasons to create, or in this case slightly modify, existing guidelines, and I think it's interesting that your issue with WP:GENDERID and with this proposed change is that they set out to be respectful to our subjects. there also are policies to support this existing guideline, WP:BLPRIVACY for one, and I could definitely make a case for WP:AVOIDVICTIM for some cases (especially given WP:SP5). I'm sure there are other policies and guidelines that support the guideline as it stands and the proposed change, but I don't have a ton of time right now. Tekrmn (talk) 05:34, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  this discussion isn't about whether or not trans people deserve respect it's about whether the respect we have already decided they deserve should be allowed to be revoked when they die You'll notice MOS:GENDERID doesn't contain the word "respect" anywhere (in fact the word doesn't appear anywhere on MOS:BIO). So that's a fabrication, and IMO, a veiled personal attack masquerading as a point. Maybe don't engage in personal attacks again (that's a policy, by the way)? —Locke Cole • t • c 05:51, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  respect was your word choice, and I did use it to allude to the point of the existing guideline, though I certainly did not say that the policy used that word. If you could explain to me how my comment felt like a personal attack so I can avoid that in the future I would appreciate it. I'm not interested in continuing a conversation about my word choices beyond that, I'm here to discuss this guideline. Tekrmn (talk) 06:08, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  respect was your word choice Try again. —Locke Cole • t • c 06:28, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  To be quite frank, it is you who is bordering on personal attacks here - you are being abrasive and rude. This is not an insult but a statement of fact. I suggest we have said all that is useful to say here. Nerd1a4i (they/them) (talk) 18:19, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  You're saying editors who want to follow our sources are being disrespectful (both to the subjects of our articles, and to trans editors personally). That is a personal attack. I also very much dislike having words put in my mouth, as is being done by Tekrmn (this whole !vote started with "respect", respect was [my] word choice is utterly false. If you want to lie about me, go do it somewhere else. —Locke Cole • t • c 00:15, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  All of this is confusing. Wikipedia maintains a high policy on certain things. Cwater1 (talk) 01:28, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Disagree that's a personal attack. Moreover, this conversation isn't going anywhere.--Jerome Frank Disciple 14:00, 30 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 1 or 4 because we are writing a biography; we can include while not offending. Someone's given name is inexorably tied to them, just like their date of birth, and I reason it should be included. How and where? Probably in the infobox, definitely in the 'early life' section, and just once. But that'd be the extent of it. We ought not include non-notable deadnames in BLPs because we treat it as a matter of BLPPRIVACY. Same with the names of pseudonymous people. We are writing a deceased person's encyclopedia entry which covers a substantial amount of information. I oppose option 3 for this reason. Our role differns from news articles, journals, and non-biographies, but align in the primary use of their most recent name and pronouns. We aren't here to upset people, but we mustn't WP:RGW. SWinxy (talk) 23:45, 27 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 1:I would say that the fact that someone transitioned is an integral part of their life history, and so former names have encyclopedic value. The only counter that I've seen for this so far is privacy, however once someone becomes notable enough to have a wikipedia article written about them, their name is among the least private items that could be included in an article (I would say including a birthplace or current residence is more invasive than a name that they used to go by). Additionally, it would aid in researching among government records and older sources. - AquilaFasciata (talk | contribs) 14:13, 28 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I see this argument pretty often, and I think the fact that someone is trans or nonbinary may be of encyclopedic value, (though I personally think there are many cases where it is not) but that doesn't mean their deadname is. given that WP:BLPNAME exists to protect subjects from having their name included, the fact that a deadname for a trans person carries far more weight than anyone's current name (as is alluded to in the existing guideline). regarding searching older sources and records, if they were notable under their deadname it would be included in the article under any of these options, and therefor easily searchable. Tekrmn (talk) 05:59, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3. My immediate thought on reading option 2 is "when would this come up?" How could someone be non-notable under their deadname when the majority of source use it? High-quality modern sources wouldn't reference a non-notable deadname at all, and generally we'd rely on the sources to determine if the old name was notable. So the most likely situation where there's a split between 2 and 3 is that someone is trying to use a glut of older sources (from eras when some sources always used or included a deadname) to argue that we need to use their deadname in the article, which seems inappropriate. This could possibly be addressed by tweaking 2 to only allow examination of the most recent sources, but it seems simpler to just go with option 3. Also, I don't think option 1 is even viable under policy - we can choose to include or exclude things that sourcing exists for based on context, but we obviously can't require the inclusion of stuff that may not have legitimate sourcing at all, which "always" would do. Oppose option 4 because there's obviously continued disagreement over this, so the guidelines should mention it in some way, and because today the way this is handled is an important part of professional-quality writing, which therefore needs treatment in the MOS. --Aquillion (talk) 18:19, 29 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 For one simple reason: Why would we be treating dead people differently than living ones? ----Licks-rocks (talk) 12:41, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Read WP:BLP. Why we currently censor former names is purely based on privacy concerns, and the dead don't have privacy concerns. Cuñado ☼ - Talk 18:32, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I disagree with your analysis that that is the only reason, and I also think it's an oversimplification. WP:BLP is not the only policy at issue here. MOS:DEADNAME itself is also a policy. Besides, the dead had privacy concerns. The only thing that changes when someone dies in my view is our reasons for honouring them. In my case, the reason for honouring someone's request to use their chosen name is always a matter of respect. If they don't want their dead-name used in life, they probably don't want their dead-name used in death either. Respect was already mentioned as an issue in many discussions during the first discussions surrounding MOS:GENDERID all the way back to 2004.[1] and has been consistently mentioned since.[2] This is by no means new ground I'm covering. --Licks-rocks (talk) 19:02, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  @Licks-rocks: - you are mistaken, MOS:DEADNAME is not policy, it is a guideline. WP:BLP is a policy. Read the difference here. starship.paint (exalt) 14:46, 1 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  I used the common English word "policy" to describe both policies and guidelines there. Functionally, there isn't enough of a difference for me to care about the distinction in this case. My apologies if this improper use of a wikijargon homonym caused undue confusion. --Licks-rocks (talk) 13:01, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Weak option-2; should be dealt with case by case - a person's former names are factual information, provided they are properly supported by reliable sources. — xaosflux ^Talk 18:55, 31 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4. I'd like to support something like option 2 here, but I strongly object to using Wikipedia:Principle of least astonishment as the criterion. It's a section of an essay that is only tangentially related to the decision to include or exclude information, and should not be promoted to guideline or policy. It's also not objective in the slightest; anyone can claim to be shocked, surprised, or confused by what they read to disrupt editing, and that's just not a suitable criterion for deadname issues. As such, for lack of a usable alternative, I'll have to default to no change. -- Maddy from Celeste (WAVEDASH) 16:00, 1 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Question: is there a reason why not option 3? Loki (talk) 16:08, 1 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  The reason is that I missed the part where it only concerned nonnotable persons. Option 3. If someone can be said to "have transitioned" (any older edge cases which are unclear due to the period would not be considered to "have transitioned", others who did clearly transition would rightfully be covered) before becoming notable, their former name is inconsequential trivia. -- Maddy from Celeste (WAVEDASH) 16:16, 1 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  How is a birth name inconsequential trivia. Outside of the powerful movement to expunge birth names of transgender individuals, birth names are ALL OVER the encyclopedia. A Tree In A Box (talk) 03:08, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Find me one notable dead person’s biography who a. changed their name before they became notable b. which the birth/former name is known c. where the person is not transgendered and d. where that name is not mentioned at least in the ‘early life section’ and I will change my !vote to agree with you. A Tree In A Box (talk) 03:11, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  Admittedly, it took a while to find this, but I was definitely able to. Oda Nobukatsu was the second son of Oda Nobunaga. All Japanese nobles at the time had a childhood name and his was no exception, yet we don't mention it anywhere. And it is known: he was known at birth as Chasenmaru. Loki (talk) 07:21, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  If that actually leads to a vote change I'll be a little shocked, but well done to Loki! That said, I also do think that birth names are generally inconsequential. What insight does a birth name provide? If a person changed their name from John to Jason at age 18 and became notable at age 30 ... what would a reader learn about the person by knowing that they were originally named John, other than ... that they were originally named John. Of course, I'm obviously not saying that inclusion of a birth name is unencyclopedic, and in most cases we should include it! But it is often a relatively unimportant piece of information—its relevance to the subject extends no further than itself. So the whole "BUT WHAT ABOUT INCLUDING THE BIRTH NAME??" argument seems a little hyperbolic to me.--Jerome Frank Disciple 15:27, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  ...in your culture (and mine).

  In some cultures, having multiple names per person is normal/expected. In some of them, former names are okay and in others, they're not. We shouldn't impose our idea of whether a birth name is important on others. WhatamIdoing (talk) 21:58, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 3: again, recognize name changes consistently. If and only if the previous name was famous or infamous, there MIGHT be reason to mention it... but even then, the current (chosen) name could suffice to discuss past actions good or bad, e.g. Caitlyn Jenner's past Olympic history, or Chelsea Manning's conviction/imprisonment. – .Raven  ^.talk 10:05, 2 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 4. MOS:GENDERID exists primarily because of privacy-related concerns. There is obviously no such concern for the dead; the existing WP:BDP even allows for extensions of BLP for "six months, one year, two years at the outside" for "contentious or questionable material about the subject that has implications for their living relatives and friends". We routinely include full birth names in biographies, and there is no proposal not to do this, so the remaining question is: should dead trans people be treated in a different way from dead non-trans people? Going through the arguments above: 1. 'It is trivia'. The full birth name of a trans person is not more trivial than the full birth name of a non-trans person (who changed their name or not); a full birth name is also not more trivial than an exact date and place of birth or death, parents' names, or other routinely included biographical information, so this argument fails. 2. 'Respect for the individual'. Let's consider the WP:UNCENSORED policy: "Wikipedia may contain content that some readers consider objectionable or offensive‍—‌even exceedingly so. Attempting to ensure that articles and images will be acceptable to all readers, or will adhere to general social or religious norms, is incompatible with the purposes of an encyclopedia." This is a policy: censoring is "incompatible with the purposes of an encyclopedia", and we are here to build an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia exists to help inform its readers, not to make people feel respected or have their views reinforced. If we do not present information that reliable sources provide and that encyclopedias routinely include, we are not being an encyclopedia. If avoiding this means that some people feel disrespected, then so be it – that is our long-standing policy. Here, we are discussing only a guideline, not a (stronger) policy. So, this argument is contrary to Wikipedia's primary purpose. 3. 'Respect for all trans people'. In addition to points against 3, WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS is relevant: "we only report what is verifiable using secondary reliable sources". Coupled with WP:DUE ("Wikipedia aims to present competing views in proportion to their representation in reliable sources on the subject"), this means that we should present information that is readily available in repliable sources, even when there are people who want us to help change the world as it is. 4. 'Not included for the living, so don't include for the dead'. Not including names for the living is related to personal privacy, not to whether those names are of encyclopedic value. They are normal in biographies, including in an encyclopedia, so when the personal privacy justification ends, 'it's standard in an encyclopedia' takes over. As there's therefore no good reason to change the current guideline, I support keeping it as it is. I see other arguments as being variations on these, but am happy to respond if I've missed something. EddieHugh (talk) 20:25, 4 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Link to the last RfC on this, less than two years ago: here, where the conclusion was "We find there is no consensus for a change". EddieHugh (talk) 21:30, 4 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• Option 1, but there should be a short grace period before deadnames are added to the article to respect the dead.A Tree In A Box (talk) 02:45, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 per DanielRigal. If it was not encylopedic to include someone's deadname when they were alive, it doesn't suddenly become encyclopedic just because they've died. Having the same standard for living and dead trans people will also allow avoiding having big discussions after someone has died (and/or WP:BDP expires) over whether their deadname is now able to be includede in their article. We should not try and squeeze every possible bit of information in existence into an article. GreenComputer (talk) 18:35, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3 as the rule if they weren't notable until after they transitioned - it's just respectful. Again there may be specific instances where the rule doesn't apply, but those should be fairly obvious and can be considered on a case by case basis. SportingFlyer T·C 20:57, 5 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]
• Option 3. If they weren't notable under a deadname, then as a general rule it should not be mentioned. Very occasional exceptions will exist and IAR can apply, but the WP:PLA threshold of Option 2 is lower that what would be desirable on this issue. ---- Patar knight - ^chat/_{contributions} 01:33, 6 June 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion (MOS:GENDERID topic 2)

I'd like some clarification on option 1. Would the mentioning be in the lead section? Or would it be farther down into the body in, say, the 'Early life' section? I'm reading the poll so far and it makes me think that one or two editors are taking the wording to mean that it would be in the in the lead section or even in the first sentence. SWinxy (talk) 23:29, 6 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hi! Under option 1's framework, the deadname would not necessarily be confined the lead, but I think in your average case it would be there. Rather, an article would use a deadname any time the person's full name was referenced. Now, per MOS:SURNAME, that's usually just in the lead if we're talking about the body of the article, but if there's a template with the person's full name, it would also be there, or if there's a mini-bio section (which does happen), it might be there, too.--Jerome Frank Disciple 01:51, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

In my view, the natural place to mention the name would be in the "early life" section rather than the lead, same as we often report parents' names and other birth details. --Trovatore (talk) 05:23, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I think the topic should be "When to mention deadnames?", rather than "...reference...", as the former is more specific and consistent with the proposed changes. "Reference" has specific (different to "mention") meaning in Wikipedia. Mitch Ames (talk) 12:13, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed! Sorry about that—I thought I had caught it before I opened. I originally used "first reference" quite a bit because that term is in MOS:GENDERID (although MOS:SURNAME says "initial mention", which is maybe less ambiguous).--Jerome Frank Disciple 12:17, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I was thinking to include their original name in the lead. Most of time, saying "their name" (formally "their former name") should be avoided though. See MOS:GENDERID for more details. Cwater1 (talk) 17:17, 18 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Skyerise, Jerome Frank Disciple, Sideswipe9th, Bilorv, DanielRigal, LokiTheLiar, Trystan, Thryduulf, Barnards.tar.gz, Some1, RoxySaunders, Galobtter, Yasslaywikia, Cuñado, HTGS, Blueboar, and Stwalkerster: Ping editors who have participated to notify them of the addition of an option 2a. BilledMammal (talk) 12:38, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

With respect, I'm placing option 2a below your vote. This RFC concerns only the deadnames of deceased trans persons—that's in the questions asked, and it's in the lead section description. From my perspective, if you want to discuss other topics, I think that should be in a separate RFC.--Jerome Frank Disciple 12:58, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I've moved it back. It's a significant option, and very relevant to a discussion about when we should mention these names. Further, the BEFORERFC included discussion of this option. Excluding that option, or otherwise lowering the prominence of it, raises WP:RFCNEUTRAL issues. BilledMammal (talk) 13:04, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Although I think the example is a valid one to discuss, the distinction between living and deceased people is significant enough that the two cases are worth treating separately. So I am not changing my response. Barnards.tar.gz (talk) 13:30, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Barnards.tar.gz and Jerome Frank Disciple - whether to change the existing consensus regarding living people should not be part of an RfC about people who are not living and attempting to force it in is disruptive. Thryduulf (talk) 16:30, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Jerome Frank Disciple that this should be discussed in a separate RfC. What to do in the cases of living people has been discussed extensively already. You are not going to get a consensus to change that in an RfC explicitly about deceased people. Please don't shoehorn such a change in, and force the RfC to include it - doing that is disruptive. Galobtter (talk) 14:29, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed it; this was also proposed by the user prior to the opening of the RFC and these issues were noted by most users who opined on it even at that time. -sche (talk) 16:39, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the removal, and the comments that the proposal was entirely out of scope for an RfC on how to handle the deadnames of deceased trans and non-binary people. If BilledMammal wishes to seek this change to GENDERID for how we handle the deadnames of the living, then it should be discussed in a separate RfC. Sideswipe9th (talk) 16:47, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Just for context, BilledMammal's 2a would have been:

I also agree with the removal, and in fact actively oppose 2a just like I did in the discussion above. A living trans person's deadname should not be included under only PLA. Under time pressure right now, but I can find the real-world harm policy that overrides the policies BilledMammal cited above in WP:BLP later. Loki (talk) 18:37, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I won't be not-voting on this RFC, because I noticed myself becoming emotionally reactive in the thread where it was first being discussed, plus now the words are so many that my poor brain keeps dropping two thirds on the floor when I'm tryna read the other bits, but I did want to mention one thing here, I guess as a matter of consideration / clarification.

I see (and have seen elsewhere) people bringing up the idea of respect for the dead, respect for the relatives of the dead, respect for the victims of the dead, etc, and I'm under the impression that people are missing out on considering a key demographic: every living trans person with no relation to the subject who ever reads the article. To my mind, sloppy and limited as it may be, something I feel like we should care about is the project's general reputation regarding respect for trans people. Whatever anyone's feelings are about a perfidious dead trans criminal or their surviving family members, mentioning deadnames in prose any more frequently than the minimum required of a thorough encyclopaedia article may well give the impression to uninvolved readers that wikipedia doesn't care about respecting trans people. (For the record, in our editor-facing spaces, my opinion is that our sensitivity is more than adequate.) Folly Mox (talk) 22:11, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

the words are so many—First, I'm so sorry about the verbosity! I take full responsibility for that—Sideswipe9th did her absolute best to help me cut it down. I did think splitting the issue into 3 questions was the best approach, and—despite my naturally verbose nature—I swear I tried as best I could to make the proposals as straight forward as possible. Second, I absolutely agree with 100% of your comment and genuinely appreciate the input.--Jerome Frank Disciple 22:16, 7 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You are coming from a good base of concern. I do have a bit of worry about making our goals focused on the reputation of Wikipedia rather than the quality of Wikipedia. Us having concern about Wikipedia being respectful of trans people (within a larger context of being respectful of people in general, but with specific issues in mind) is good. Us being concerned about whether people will see us a respectful, at least in any way that interferes with making this a quality encyclopedia, is less good. (To draw a parallel with other guidelines, us not allowing bigoted aspersions on Islam is good, but it would be wrong for us to start putting (PBUH) after each invocation of the Islamic prophet's name, which would be showing respect, would be wrong.) Having said that, I suspect that in most cases being respectful will look much the same as conveying our respect for trans people. --Nat Gertler (talk) 12:15, 8 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

• I've sat out most if not all the GENDERID discussions up until now. I expect my following question is going to garner some heat: Why are we treating trans people like a special protected class with regards to the naming issue, and how do our methods not obviously violate WP:RGW and WP:NOTCENSORED? To my knowledge, the basic standard for including former names of a person is that we have basic RS confirmation for those former names. I understand that the "encyclopedic" value of someone's former name under which they were not notable is arguably minimal depending on the circumstances, but then shouldn't our guidelines universally recommend an "old name" purge for nearly everyone? Jessie Rae Scott, like many women of her time, was not notable under her maiden name, so should we ban mention of it? US President Gerald Ford Jr. was renamed by his family at a young age after his stepfather, so that he wouldn't carry the name of his violently abusive biological father, Leslie Lynch King. Why don't we offer extra sensitivity to him and his family? Why don't we update all mentions of any Muslim person who has ever completed a pilgrimage to Mecca to always reflect the "Al-Hajji" prefix they adopt to show we respect their faith regardless of chronology? As it stands, GENDERID guidance is stricter than WP:BLPCRIME in terms of "past potential unpleasantness for the subject" being allowed mention.

Yes, I know there are violent and malicious actors out there who enjoy deadnaming trans people to be bullies, and in some places in the world its basically a "pass as cis or be grossly denied basic human rights" situation. But why are bending over backwards to try to "protect" these subjects and not others? I can't think of many other issues where we so cautiously avoid mentioning things that are socially or politically inconvenient for the subject (whether that be people, corporate entities, or communities). Either everyone should have an about-equal standard, whatever that standard may be, or we should just admit we have no interest in being neutral on this issue. -Indy beetle (talk) 19:42, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

If you can point to another class of people where there old names are routinely weaponized like that, I imagine the community would give that consideration. Most name changes don't have that consequence; Holly Robinson Peete is probably not bothered much if everyone knows she used to be Holly Robinson. We have many ways in which we treat people in different categories differently, such as separating how we treat public figures from non-public figures, or minors from adults. WP:BLPPRIVACY discusses types of information that we may have that we should not include, as what little they add to the understanding of the topic is outweighed by their potential for damage. -- Nat Gertler (talk) 19:58, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Why don't we offer extra sensitivity to him and his family? That's a fair question. There's a lot I think we handle incorrectly with regards to name changes in general, particularly so for individuals who have had to change their names for serious issues like being victims of abuse (historical or current) or crime. While ultimately I would love to see us address that deficiency in MOS:CHANGEDNAME, in a manner that would let us seamlessly integrate the deadname provisions of GENDERID without the current state of making trans and non-binary name changes separate, I think changes along those lines are (sadly) less likely to find consensus. Sideswipe9th (talk) 20:25, 10 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Because trans "rights" in general are a current political football, so we get people here on both sides trying to have Wikipedia conform to extremist views. Neutrality has not so far won out. Anomie⚔ 21:09, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The wildly different definitions of what neutrality is mean I don't think any one person is capable of knowing which position even is neutral. casualdejekyll 21:31, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I agree with you here. And by that I mean we should hold the same standard to all people by removing UNDUE coverage of previous names. I know I've said this before in one of these wall of text discussions. (Incidentally, none of the three sources cited for Scott's maiden name appear to actually mention her maiden name - The News And Observer says nothing, a Google Books search of the book doesn't have the claimed maiden name in it except as a first name, and the ABC link appears to be dead. As such, I've taken it out of the article in question.) casualdejekyll 21:45, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I feel like this RFC has a biased setup and doesn't include the option that makes the most sense. Options 2 and 3 are largely the same thing and 2 can be misunderstood as the status quo, when it's not in the details. Cuñado ☼ - Talk 16:50, 11 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]