For naming Brussels related articles, please take into account that:
- Brussels is an officially bilingual city with French and Dutch sharing an equal place;
- Although originally Dutch-speaking, Brussels is now majority French-speaking; making the language issue a sensitive matter (see Frenchification of Brussels for further details).
- The naming should follow the most common usage in English (see WP:NC).
- These guidelines reflect a consensus in order to reduce disputes.
If the subject has an English name or can easily be anglicized to facilitate reading and keep language neutrality.
Then:
- use that name as a title (See WP:UE)
- use that name throughout the article (see WP:MOS#Foreign terms)
- in the first line, if the translations are to be mentioned, follow the sequence French-Dutch
- in the infobox, use the sequence (English-)French-Dutch
- Example: Leopold Park
If the subject has no English name.
Then:
- find out which name is used the most often in English.
- In practice, this will almost always be French. Then:
- use the French name in the title
- use that name throughout the article
- in the first line, as well as in the infobox, follow the sequence French-Dutch
- Example: Avenue Louise
- If Dutch is used more often in English, reverse Dutch and French above.
For all other things mentioned in the article, such as streets, squares, buildings, statues, railway or subway stations, and so on:
- Example: The Brussels Town Hall dominates the Grand Place.
- Example: Shopping can be done on rue Neuve/Nieuwstraat.
- Use the double name (be consistent about which format is used in each article) the first time the thing is mentioned unless there is a linkable article (in which case use the title) or an extremely obvious English name.
- Use the French (or Dutch, if that is more common in English) name thereafter.
- Eg: There is a expensive store at the intersection of Rue de la Concorde/Eendrachtstraat and Avenue Louise. Rue de la Concorde has lots of fancy shops.
- Eg: It is near Leopold Park.
If there is already a consensus, it does not need to be replaced to follow these guidelines.
The consensus on the names for the municipalities of Brussels can be found at Talk:Brussels-Capital Region/NamingArchive3.