Questions when determining a naming convention for churches within a given country:

  • Which language?
  • If in English, "St." (North American) or "St" (British and Commonwealth)? This should be determined by the variety of English in which the article is written.
  • Include the denomination's name? Should some be included and others not?
  • Comma or parenthetical disambiguation?

"St" in Commonwealth English

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Dedications to individual saints

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  •  Y St John's Church, Johnston
  •  N St John's Church (Johnson)
  •  N St. John's Church, Johnston
  •  N Saint John's Church, Johnston
  •  N Church of St John, Johnston
  •  N St John's, Johnston
  •  N St John's Johnston

This is the simplest kind of dedication and would set the standard for how we do other dedications.

When the dedication is also the place name

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Other dedications

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All Saints

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Include apostrophe, following the same principle as St John's Church, Johnston?

All Souls

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Include apostrophe, following the same principle as St John's Church, Johnston?

Christ Church

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Always Christ Church, X (where X is a place name)?

Dedications to two saints

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If the combination of saints is unique, no disambiguation is needed?

Dedications with the names of donors, etc.

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Holy Trinity

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Idiosyncratic forms of saints' names

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Follow style on individual churches' official websites?

Less common dedications

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St Michael

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Dedications to St Michael and All Angels can be abbreviated to St Michael's Church, X (where X is a place name)?

St X-at-Y

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St X-in-the-Y

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Hyphens or not?

Titles of Mary

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Church of X, Y (where X is Mary's title and Y is a place name)? Retain Our Lady rather than changing to St Mary.

Names of denominations

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Omit these unless they are necessary for disambiguation?

Updates needed to lists of listed buildings

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Disambiguation pages for church dedications

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In Category:Lists of churches, probably incorrectly: