# Talk:Seal of Indiana

This article is not as long as the other topic I have submitted for GA, but I cannot think of a way that this article can get much longer than it currently is. Charles Edward 14:45, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Objection It has been suggested that this article be moved to Seal of Indiana with the rationale that this is a more common name. This assertion is not borne out by Google ("Seal of the State of Indiana" and "Seal of Indiana".) —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 17:30, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Google is not the most accurate indicator, and those are very close. If you want to do it that way, Seal of Indiana is viewed over ten times more than Seal of the State of Indiana. Including "the State of" is very cumbersome by doubling the length, and no other state seal article does this. This goes against all of the policy guidelines at Wikipedia:Naming conventions#Deciding an article name. Seal of Indiana is the easiest to find, most likely to be linked ([1] vs [2]), only as precise as necessary, more concise, and consistent to other articles. Reywas92Talk 17:46, 27 November 2009 (UTC)
Google results You are correct that Google results are far from perfect and that these returns are relatively close to one another. In such a case though, it is hard to make the argument that one or the other is the most common name. WP:COMMONNAME states "When there is no common English name, use the official name (as defined in a legal context, for example, such as a national constitution)..." In this case, that would clearly be "Seal of the State of Indiana." —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 00:52, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Indiana law does not give it an *official* name [3]; it just says that those are the words inscribed on the seal. The words on the Seal of Alabama are simply "State of Alabama", the Seal of Virginia just says "Virginia", and on the Seal of Massachusetts it says "Sigillum Republicae Massachusettensis". Some seals have no words, others include "Great", others just have the name of the state. The Seal of South Dakota says "State of South Dakota. Great Seal." You will have a hard time convincing me that this is the official name. To comply with naming conventions, there should be consistency and conciseness. Reywas92Talk 01:35, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Official and common names This says that—according to Indiana law—"Although accepted throughout the years, the Seal had been variously drawn in pictorial renditions. Its versions were numerous although all were encircled with the words, 'Seal of the State of Indiana.'" Apparently, even if it is not defined as such in this legislation, "Seal of the State of Indiana" is recognized there as a universally common name. I do not have access to the law in question (House Enrolled Act No. 1348), so I cannot say more than that. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 02:08, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
I gave you the law right here, and whether it's Seal of Indiana, Indiana State Seal, Seal of the State of Indiana, Indiana's State Seal, or State Seal of Indiana, none of them are official and all of them are legitimate and common. Therefore we should follow naming conventions and use the most concise one, the one "readers are most likely to look for" and "to which editors will most naturally link from other articles", and the one that is consistent. I find it absurd to use six different inconsistent styles for the 50 related articles just because those are the words on the seals. Reywas92Talk 03:34, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
Not quite You gave me a reference to the law and the text of a different law, but not the text of House Enrolled Act No. 1348 from 1963, which is what I was trying to say before. Even if none of them are official, one is somewhat more common than the other and there is no compelling reason to move this page since the current name is the one that is actually used on the seal itself and is more common according to the admittedly imperfect metric of a Google search. There are different names for a variety of (e.g.) national coats of arms because they simply have different names, for instance Emblem of Algeria, National Emblem of France, and Royal Arms of Cambodia. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 05:05, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
(outdent) According to the Indiana Code, it is simply called the "State Seal" [4], as that is the heading the section in which it is mandated. Having lived in Indiana most of my life, and having attended many state functions, "State Seal" is definantly the common term used. But we can't use that here for obvious reasons. It seems to be policy would require us to the most commonly used name in lack of an official name. In my opinion the most commonly used term would be State Seal (Indiana). But I personally prefer that we use Seal of Indiana. I've never heard it refereed to as the Seal of the State of Indiana in casual conversation. I have also checked in three books I have which discuss the topic, A Sketchbook of Indiana History, Indiana and Indianans, and Here's Your Indiana Government. In all three it is called the State Seal fourteen times, and Seal of Indiana is used twice. —Charles Edward (Talk | Contribs) 15:01, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Seal of the Indiana Attorney General.svg
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 07:20, 25 October 2020 (UTC)

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Seal of the Indiana Attorney General.svg
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 09:58, 30 June 2021 (UTC)

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