Talk:Alexander Smolyar

Requested move 12 January 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Moved. (non-admin closure) Adumbrativus (talk) 01:33, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

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Aleksandr Smolyar → Alexander Smolyar – Alexander seems to be the preferred transliteration of his name and therefore his WP:COMMONNAME, as per the official websites of Formula 3, ART Grand Prix, SMP Racing and most articles I can find on him: , , , , , , , —all from different sources. He's also occasionally referred to as Alex (499 results on Google News to Alexander's 1770), but rarely ever as Aleksandr (397 results). MSport1005 (talk) 01:12, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

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

• Alex Smolyar.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:22, 16 September 2022 (UTC)

Request move 14 August 2025

Alexander Smolyar → Alex SmolyarAlex Smolyar – His common name is clearly "Alex", as he was called Alex by the commentators in F3, as well as by F3's social media accounts. And he also refers to himself as Alex as seen here: . It's pretty much the same case as for Alex Albon and Alex Dunne. BryOn2205U (talk) 17:14, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

sorry, here's the correct link: BryOn2205U (talk) 17:16, 14 August 2025 (UTC)

Oppose: The sources, and all other language wikipedias, use "Alexander" (give or take transliteration variations).

Meanwhile, we need to move the article back to its correct title, as it's currently at Alexander Smolyar. with an added full stop, from the look of it as a result of an attempt to move it. PamD 11:22, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, I created a mess and couldn't change it back. Sorry about that.

About your opinion on using the name "Alexander": most sources in this article are from 2019 or older, these sources use the name "Alexander". The other sources are mostly from 2021, and most of them use "Alex". So it seems like his common name changed to "Alex" as time went on. You can especially see that in articles on the F3 page, where "Alexander" is used in 2019, and "Alex" since around 2020. When it comes to the usage of "Alexander" in all other languages on Wikipedia, it is nothing unusual. Articles for Alex Albon mostly use "Alexander" in other languages too. And speaking from my experience watching motorsport in different languages, the names from the FIA entry lists are more commonly used, especially by commentators, which is not the case in the English language. BryOn2205U (talk) 14:04, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

Well, the move discussion above, 2022, never mentioned "Alex" as an option, and the YouTube link you give calls him "Aleksandr Smolyar". PamD 14:21, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

What I wanted to demonstrate with this link is that Smolyar calls himself "Alex". The title just says "Aleksandr", but this name is generally rarely used in English media (as mentioned in the move discussion from 2022), so it's not that relevant. "Alexander" and "Alex" are in general used about equally often, but the usage of "Alex" in the recent years (especially by the F3 website and their social media accounts), as well as only "Alex" being used by commentators and by Smolyar himself convinced me to change the article title to "Alex Smolyar". BryOn2205U (talk) 15:51, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

What he calls himself is irrelevant. To move it you need to demonstrate that it's the most commonly used form in English-language sources. PamD 18:10, 17 August 2025 (UTC)

So I did more research and found out that "Alexander Smolyar" is frequently used alongside "Alex Smolyar" by FIA Formula 3 commentators in the English broadcast, especially in Smolyar's last year of F3 in 2022. The same applies for articles using both versions of his name. So there is no clear common name, and it's probably for the best to keep the current article title. BryOn2205U (talk) 11:22, 21 August 2025 (UTC)