Decree of November 4, 1993, relating to the terminology of names of States and capitals

The form and spelling of the names of States and capitals listed in the annex to this decree are recommended.

The principles adopted by the commission for the choice of recommended forms are as follows

1. The recommended form for designating countries and capitals is the French form (exonym) existing due to established Francophone cultural or historical traditions.

2. In the absence of an attested French exonym, the local form currently in use shall be employed.

For countries that do not use the Latin alphabet, the recommended spelling is that resulting from a transliteration or transcription into Latin characters, compliant with French phonetics.

3. As the names of countries and cities are proper nouns, it is recommended to respect the local spelling in use, whether transliterated or not. However, particular diacritical marks shall not be used if they do not exist in French writing.

When the local spelling of a country or capital name, used in French, does not include an accent on " e " pronounced " é " or " è ", this spelling shall be retained in French without an accent; conversely, derived adjectives and nouns shall normally be accented as " é " or " è " (e.g., " Venezuela ", but " Vénézuélien ").

4. The use of hyphens in compound names of countries and capitals complies with the following principles

when the local name is used in French, the local spelling is retained, generally without a hyphen;

when a French exonym exists

a hyphen shall be placed between juxtaposed components, after an adjective, after the word " Saint ", and before and after the conjunction " et " [and] indicating that several entities constitute a single State;

no hyphen shall be placed after an article or before an adjective. By virtue of usage, the hyphen shall be maintained for the following four countries: Cap-Vert, États-Unis, Pays-Bas, and Royaume-Uni.

5. When a State consists of an island or an archipelago and usage has not fixed the gender thereof, whether visibly or not, it is recommended to use the feminine, singular or plural as appropriate (e.g., Madagascar, Maurice, les Fidji).

6. Where several cities have the status of capital, the one indicated preferentially is the current seat of government and/or foreign representations.

7. The recommended form for designating inhabitants and the adjectives derived from country names, intended to be adopted for use in the French language, shall comply as much as possible with the rules of French morphology, spelling, and pronunciation, allowing for variations in gender and number. It should be noted that it has not always been possible to include a recommended name for the inhabitants of certain capitals, due to the absence of French or Francophone usage in the matter.

8. The adjective of nationality is identical to the name of the inhabitants. Switzerland is an exception to this rule (feminine noun: " Suissesse ", feminine adjective: " suisse ").

9. The adjective of nationality is written without a capital letter.

10. Variants are mentioned in the main cases of divergences from the forms recommended by other institutions publishing similar lists (particularly O.N.U., A.F.N.O.R., I.N.S.E.E., I.G.N.).

The Order of October 14, 1985 relating to the terminology of names of States and capitals is repealed.

This decree shall be published in the Official Gazette of the French Republic.

(Table not reproduced. See Official Gazette of the French Republic of January 25, 1994, p. 1288.)