Talk:Strauss

Esszet

I thought the consensus on Wikipedia is that English Wikipedia uses English. "ß" is not English.

That depends on the usage in English sources. If the "ss" spelling is dominant, the English Wikipedia uses that, too; see Franz Josef Strauss or Adolf Strauss. If not, we use "ß". -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 10:42, 23 June 2014 (UTC)

Ostrich Incorrect

This is a etymology fallacy. Strauss naming, is understood German peer reviewed academic writing to mostly most likely from origin in the Strasburg region, with other serious theories in the words for a local wine tavern, or possibly in the root word for belligerent, ie fighter .The ostrich claim is not taken seriously and is a fallacious folk etymology. Essentially this developed as a reverse etymology due to the similarity of the existing name to the latin for ostrich.

There are other absurd claims that have crept into the article as of late. Such the "only" spelling outside of Germany is "strauss" when this Germanic name is at least 1,000 years old and appears in Germanic family languages such as Dutch and Scandinavian languages as Struss, Strauber, and Straus, Struis, Struijs, Struys, and Strutz.68.50.105.89 (talk) 05:53, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

Requested move 17 June 2026

Strauss → Strauss (surname) – I propose moving this page to a disambiguated title, as it is not the primary topic. Other notable figures listed on Strauss (disambiguation) share the name, including Johann Strauss II, Johann Strauss I, and Richard Strauss. ~2026-35439-77 (talk) 20:02, 17 June 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. ⹃Maltazarian ^{ᚾparley ∨ {\displaystyle \lor } investigateᛅ} 18:27, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

Oppose: no evidence has been presented that these two men are the primary topic, neither of those figures are even listed at the disambiguation page, and furthermore you can highlight those figures without moving the surname article simply by placing them at the top of the surname list. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 09:46, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

@Howardcorn33 I am not arguing that any of these is the primary topic. Instead, I propose that "Strauss" become a disambiguation page, as there does not appear to be a primary topic. ~2026-35547-24 (talk) 11:57, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

The surname list contains all the aforementioned Strausses in the list already. If you believe those three are primary among all Strausses, then you can simply place them at the top of the list, no need to move. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 12:01, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

I don't quite understand the point of this. All of those people are indeed Strausses in the same meaning, and using a surname anthroponymy list at the base doesn't imply a single primary topic beyond what is obvious. These people are also mostly listed in the lead section of the anthroponymy article already. Most of the latter is a list just like the disambiguation page is, so how would this change actually improve navigation? (Oppose)

Per WP:DPT, we can also look at some standard stats. WikiNav view of clickstreams shows Ohio State University abuse scandal to be the top outgoing destination, interestingly enough. That sounds like we could add Richard Strauss (physician) to the hatnote here and at Richard Strauss in order to help these readers? --Joy (talk) 13:34, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

The reason for this is because the scandal has been in the news as OSU has neared and then reached a settlement for the victims. I imagine the interest will go back down soon as it leaves the news cycle. Ladtrack (talk) 16:29, 18 June 2026 (UTC)

• Support, also moving Strauss (disambiguation) to Strauss. There is no primary topic, and the surname itself is not the primary topic. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 18:26, 19 June 2026 (UTC)
• Support. But not for this reason. Redirect Strauss to Johann Strauss II, who is almost always who is meant if the name is used without context. However, if consensus is not to redirect I would oppose as the people listed at Strauss are far more notable than anything on the disambiguation page. -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:15, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

  Are you sure? MW lists four people who could be referred to by the surname alone. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 11:27, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

  Because of the way Wikipedia conventionally organizes these lists, the question here is really about what to show in the list beneath the list of the most popular people. Is it better to show the other Strauss people, or to show companies, buildings, places, etc?

  WikiNav view of clickstreams at Strauss (disambiguation) seems to show that of the 109 viewers who saw that list, 24 went back to the people, 11 went to Strauss (company), and 2 were filtered.

  So the way this proposal is made, the question becomes - what is the argument for sorting the clothing manufacturer ahead of the less notable people?

  For comparison, WikiNav view of clickstreams at Strauss has all this:

  clickstream-enwiki-2026-05.tsv:

  • Strauss Ohio_State_University_abuse_scandal link 234
  • Strauss Johann_Strauss_II link 90
  • Strauss Strauss_(disambiguation) link 76
  • Strauss Richard_Strauss link 74
  • Strauss Johann_Strauss_I link 24
  • Strauss Adolf_Strauss_(general) link 17
  • Strauss ß link 15
  • Strauss Napoleon link 15
  • Strauss Leo_Strauss link 15
  • Strauss Ostrich link 13
  • Strauss Jewish_quarter_(diaspora) link 13
  • Strauss Harry_Strauss link 12
  • Strauss Strausberg link 11
  • total: 609 to 13 identified destinations

  It sure seems like the educational value of all this is larger than that of the company.

  Comparing to the Merriam-Webster list, it looks like we should think about how to sort the surname list to promote links to David Friedrich Strauss, more of the Austrian composers and Levi Strauss.

  We already know from other examples that alphabetically sorted lists aren't that great for navigation outcomes.

  So, maybe this issue could be resolved by adding an extra paragraph to the lead? --Joy (talk) 12:29, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

  Let's also link more standard stats:

  • All-time mass views for all topics linked from Strauss
  • All-time mass views for all topics linked from Strauss (disambiguation)

  Here we can also find:

  • Lewis Strauss ~ 2,207 views / day on average
  • Strauss–Howe generational theory 970 / day - named after a person, William Strauss (see below)
  • Richard Strauss 844 / day
  • Isidor Straus 786 / day
  • Nita Strauss 724 / day
  • Levi Strauss 723 / day
  • Dominique Strauss-Kahn 719 / day
  • Peter Strauss 647 / day
  • Johann Strauss II 626 / day
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss 533 / day
  • Leo Strauss 511 / day
  • Neil Strauss 434 / day
  • Andrew Strauss 425 / day
  • ...
  • William Strauss 61 / day
  • Paul Strauss 60 / day
  • Strauss Group 59 / day
  • Carolyn Strauss 58 / day
  • Josef Strauss 56 / day
  • ...
  • Engelbert Strauss 49 / day -> redirect to Strauss (company)
  • ...
  • Straus Park 21 / day

  Again it seems like the long tail of people is on average more relevant than the long tail of other topics. --Joy (talk) 12:38, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

  Are you sure? MW lists four people who could be referred to by the surname alone. Yes, I'm sure, as I said. If you say "Strauss" without context you are almost always referring to him. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:41, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

  I personally have never heard of Johann Strauss II. The name Strauss rather reminds me of Levi Strauss. ―Howard • 🌽³³ 14:46, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

  The composer of The Blue Danube is definitely well-known, but the big problem here is that Richard Strauss, another composer, is at least as well-known. I'm frankly not knowledgeable enough on Johann Strauss II to know if he has mononymous usage, but Googling "Strauss composer" pulls more results for Richard, which is interesting to say the least. Typically when we do single-surname redirects, along with mononymous usage, the person tends to be at least as important as all the other uses put together, which is a test that Johann Strauss II plainly fails. Ladtrack (talk) 15:09, 24 June 2026 (UTC)

  Sorry, but well-known as Richard Strauss is, he cannot match Johann. If you said Strauss without context, almost nobody would think you were referring to Richard. -- Necrothesp (talk) 18:37, 26 June 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose. The surname is the primary topic. 162 etc. (talk) 20:36, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

  Johann Strauss II is often mononmously called "Strauss", so I simply do not think that's accurate. Surname lists are not DAB pages, DAB pages are DAB pages. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 23:01, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

  It's not easy to assess how seriously a typical reader treats this distinction.

  If we were to leave only the composers in the list, how would we assess if doing that improved navigation? --Joy (talk) 11:09, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

• If you do not know the first name of the Strauss you are looking for, this page is unusable. You will use Google. I have no fix for this. Srnec (talk) 20:12, 28 June 2026 (UTC)