Singular or plural database table names? [duplicate]

Answer 1

IMHO, Table names should be plural like Customers.

Class names should be singular like Customer if it maps to a row in Customers table.

Answer 2

I like to use plural forms, simply because one table contains several entities, so it seems more natural to me.

Linq to SQL converts plural form table names to singular when creating data entities. I assume that Microsoft would not have implemented this functionality if they considered plural forms for table names bad practice.

Answer 3

My personal philosophy is that using a plural database table name is redundant, unless you're only planning for the table to contain one row.

Answer 4

There is no should or must be this way or that way correct answer to this question. It's up to the designer of the database and software.

As for me, I usually use singular names becouse when I do the E-R diagram I have an entity Customer , not Customers, so I keep it same as to not get confused.

Ofcourse some frameworks do favor one style or another, so you should be best of to follow those practices when you notice them.

Answer 5

Well, obviously your database table names have absolutely got to be named in a "standard" fashion which I will hitherto arbitrarily define.

First, all tables names shall be prefixed with "t_". Following this, the singular entity name in StudlyCaps, e.g. "Customer". Immediately afterwards, this shall contain the number of columns created in the first version of the schema, for historical purposes, followed by an underscore, and the precise normal form of the data; either "1", "2", "3" or "B" for BCNF. Any higher normal forms shall be denoted by a "P".

Some examples of acceptable names are:

t_Customer_6_3
t_Order_5_B
t_OrderLine_4_2

I think my point is, it really doesn't matter, as long as the name is reasonably descriptive and naming is consistent.

Answer 6

As with lots of these types of questions the best answer is often "consistent". You can argue the table represents a single entity and as such deserves a singular name, or that it contains multiple instances of an entity so it should be plural. My advice is flip a coin and go with it for the entire database (or stick with the convention that already has a majority).