Template talk:R from surname

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[edit] Category Surnames

I will momentarily add Category:Surnames to this template so that this category is expanded by the surname set represented by use of this redirect template. If you have objections and would like to discuss this change, please revert my change and initiate a discussion here. Regards. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 13:02, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

This change has been undone after discussion with User:Brewcrewer who is working hard on sub-categorizing surnames. --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 00:16, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Using the template to assist sub-categorization

One could add a parameter to the template like "ori" or "lang" (for "origin" and "language" respectively) that would auto-sub-categorize surnames to particular categories.

Present form: {{surname}} => Category:Surnames
Future form: {{surname|ori=African}} => Category:African surnames

The best way to implement might be to allow any value for the "ori" parameter and include available term-category mappings in the documentation. If a term is used for the parameter that is not recognized, the categorization would default to Category:Surnames; but if a new category were created with a new term-category mapping that is used as a parameter value, the category would autopopulate. For instance, if "ori=Burmese" does not have a corresponding Category:Burmese surnames, a tagged surname would end up in Category:Surnames, but when Category:Burmese surnames is created, it would autopopulate with the so-tagged surnames.

I'm only a brown-belt at template-smithing, so if this is a direction that would be desirable to go, I'll need some time to learn some of the subtler syntax of templates.

--User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 22:45, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Issue regarding subcategory class labels

I'm not sure how labels like "Japanese surname", "African surname" and "Czech surname" would be equally well handled by a common parameter. For instance, using "national origin" would not be good for African or Czech (the first is a continent, the second a former nation, Czechoslovakia). One could go with "geographical origin" - that might work across the board. "Ethnic origin" would be problematic - that would work for Japanese, but not for African (tremendous variety of ethnicities) and maybe not for Czech (not familiar enough with European ethnography to say). --User:Ceyockey (talk to me) 22:45, 25 November 2007 (UTC)