Talk:Bear Island

Move to Bjørnøya?
According to the Bear Island article, that is the Norwegian name for the place. --Comment by Selfie City  ( talk  |  contributions ) 16:58, 3 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Right, so has our naming policy changed overnight? Because, yesterday, the fact that somewhere was called something in a different language had no bearing at all, because we always used the most common English name. Why would this be an exception? --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 18:03, 3 February 2019 (UTC)
 * We call the southernmost continent "Antarctica", not "opposite the bear". --Comment by Selfie City  ( talk  |  contributions ) 20:36, 3 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Antarctica is the normal name in English, and "opposite the bear" is just a translation, which has never been used as a name. As far as I can tell, Bear Island is the standard English name for this place.--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 10:41, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
 * But if you want to Svalbard, would it locally be known by the name "Bear Island" in any circumstance? If you called it that, would people know the name? That's really the question here, IMHO. --Comment by Selfie City  ( talk  |  contributions ) 15:14, 4 February 2019 (UTC)


 * That's something I can't answer (though perhaps Erik could), but the same question applies to København, Moskva, Shqiperië, La Habana, Bretagne, etc, etc. My question to you is: why is this a special case? And if this is a problem generally, why not propose a change to Naming conventions?--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 16:32, 4 February 2019 (UTC)
 * ...And Østfold, Värmland, Närke, Örebro, Västmanland, Västerås, Trøndelag, Røros, Stjørdalshalsen, Nuuk, and Snæfellsjökull National Park... do you get my point? --Comment by Selfie City  ( talk  |  contributions ) 01:57, 5 February 2019 (UTC)

But, again, those are the names used in English - I've even used some of them myself; not every placename in a foreign language has an English translation, in fact the majority don't.

However, "Bjørnøya" does have one, and that is apparently more used in English than the Norwegian (Wikipedia also has Bear Island (Norway)). If Bear Island is the most common English name, and I can see why it would be, because Svalbard is world famous for its bears, then that is what we use. That is the policy-based argument I've been making all along, which you have not yet addressed.--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 08:46, 5 February 2019 (UTC)


 * SC, The above names are indeed used because a separate English name doesn't exist. In the cases there is one, we will use it, even if you would only encounter it in English-language tourist brochures. ϒψιλον  (talk ) 09:50, 5 February 2019 (UTC)


 * Also, I suspect if you did ask an English-speaking local how to reach "Bear Island" (and most Norwegians speak very good English), they would understand where you meant, even if they'd never heard it called that before, because the English is just a direct translation of the Norwegian (bjørn = bear, as in Tolkien; øy = island, unless I'm seriously mistaken)--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 11:28, 5 February 2019 (UTC)


 * OK, I see. That makes more sense. --Comment by Selfie City  ( talk  |  contributions ) 15:09, 5 February 2019 (UTC)