Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Gender identity

Refer to people whose gender might be questioned using the name and gendered words (man, woman, person) that reflect the person's most recent expressed self-identification as reported in the most recent reliable sources, even if it does not match what is most common in sources. Do not use gendered noun forms (mailman, waitress) that do not match their most recent self-identification. This holds for any phase of the person's life, unless they have indicated a preference otherwise.

Unless a living transgender or non-binary person was notable under a former name, the former name should not appear in any page (including questions, lists, redirects, disambiguation pages, category names, templates, etc.), even if reliable sourcing exists. Treat the pre-notability name as a privacy interest, as in these examples:

• From Laverne Cox:

• Avoid phrasing like this:

In the case of a living transgender or non-binary person, their 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 (by Wikipedia's standards) under that name. Introduce the prior name with either "born" or "formerly". For example:

• From Chelsea Manning, notable under birth name:

• From Elliot Page, notable under former professional name:

Outside the main biographical article, generally do not discuss in detail the 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. Avoid confusing constructions (Jane Doe fathered a child) by rewriting (e.g., Jane Doe became a parent). In articles on works or other activity by a living trans or non-binary person before transition, use their current name as the primary name (in prose, tables, lists, infoboxes, etc.), unless they prefer their former name be used for past events. If they were notable under the name by which they were credited for the work or other activity, provide it in a parenthetical or footnote on first reference; add more parentheticals or footnotes only if needed to avoid confusion.

Paraphrase, elide, or use square brackets to replace portions of quotations to avoid deadnaming or misgendering, except in rare cases where exact wording cannot be avoided, as where there is a pun on the notable former name, etc.

• Critic X said "Juno needs a fine [actor] to play its pregnant teenage star, and [Elliot] Page has shown [himself] to be the perfect [man] for the job." involves many bracketed changes, so is better paraphrased: Critic X argued that portraying the pregnant teenage lead in the film Juno required a fine acting talent, and said that Page had proved perfect for the job.

In source citations, do not remove names of authors, or references to former names in titles of works. If the author is notable, the current name may be given, for example as "X (writing as Y)". Do not replace or supplement a person's former name with a current name if the two names have not been publicly connected and connecting them would out the person.

Authority control

Place {{Authority control}} at the foot of biographies (immediately above {{DEFAULTSORT}}, if present). Add authority control identifiers (VIAF, ISNI, ORCID, etc.) in the subject's Wikidata entry, from where they will be automatically transcluded into the template.

See also

• Wikipedia:Biography dos and don'ts (information page summarizing the key points of this guideline)
• Wikipedia:Autobiography
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography
• Wikipedia:Categorizing articles about people
• Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people)
• Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons

Notes

References