Sam Korn smoddy@gmail.com wrote: The rule is explicit. The way it should be enterpreted in this case is not. The most common English name should be used. Some people consider Côte d'Ivoire more common, some consider Ivory Coast more common. If you stopped seeing things as black-or-white, right-or-wrong, you might find this whole issue easier to deal with. Both are acceptable, and the amount of debate this *minor* issue has had is absurd. Wrong. In world usage in English, a review of sources shows that Ivory Coast is used everywhere. Cote d'Ivoire is used occasionally, in most cases purely in diplomatic texts. It is a black and white issue. The MoS say to use the most common name by a mile is Ivory Coast. For example, the US uses Cote d'Ivoire more than most. A review of 20 sources - governmental, media, reportage, NGOs - put usage as 75:25 (75 Ivory Coast, 25 Cote d'Ivoire). And that is in English a highpoint of usage. Other states' usage is 100:0 Ivory Coast vs Cote d'Ivoire.
What is happening is perfectly simple. Some French language users wish to use a lesser known name as the article name, the version version, in breach of the MoS requirement that the most common name used by English users be used to keep a French name in preference to the actually more widely used name. It is the equivalent of if a lot of German speakers voted to ensure that the Germany page was at [[Deutchland]], if a lot of Italian speakers voted to put Italy at [[Italia]], or if Ulster Scots users speakers used their numbers to put Northern Ireland at [[Northinn Airlinn]].
Language should be irrelevant to the debate. Under the MoS the only criteria is ''most commonly used". Some users seem to be saying 'to tell with the MoS, lets push our language". That is an abuse of WP.
Thom
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