Naming Features Across Languages
Feature names are the terminology decision with the widest blast radius. Which to keep in English, which to translate, and what it costs to change your mind.
Quick answer — Decide per feature whether the name is a product noun or a description. Product nouns stay in English everywhere; descriptive names translate. Changing the decision later means re-approving everything that mentions it.
Vitra.ai Universe ships product and customer content in every language.
One decision, many surfaces
A feature name appears in the interface, the help centre, release notes, onboarding email, the marketing site, sales decks, support macros and the API.
Getting it wrong is not one correction. It is a correction everywhere, in every language, and a period where customers and staff use two names for one thing.
Product noun or description
That is the test, and it resolves most cases.
| Feature name | Treat as | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A coined product name | Product noun — keep | It is a name, like a trademark |
| A capitalised branded module | Product noun — keep | Findable, supportable |
| "Bulk export" | Description — translate | It describes an action |
| "Two-factor authentication" | Description — translate | Established local terms exist |
| An acronym you invented | Keep, but explain once | No local equivalent exists |
The failure mode is the middle ground: a lightly branded descriptive name like "Smart Sync" that some markets translate and others do not, producing exactly the inconsistency the decision exists to prevent.
Decide it explicitly and record it.
Keeping English is not always safer
Teams default to keeping everything in English because it feels lower risk. It is lower effort, which is different.
A descriptive feature left untranslated makes the product read as foreign and makes the feature harder to find in local search — a customer looking for two-factor authentication in German searches the German term.
Record it where it binds
Pin every decision in a glossary so a general match cannot overwrite it, and hold it in memory so every surface resolves the same way without anyone remembering to check.
That is what makes the interface, the help centre and the announcement agree by default rather than by diligence.
Changing a name later
It happens, and it is expensive. Everything mentioning the old name has to be found and updated in every language, the help centre and the interface fall out of step for however long that takes, and customers keep using the old name for about a year regardless. Budget a rename as a project rather than an edit. Run quality control across the corpus after any rename so the stragglers surface, and expect support to see both names for longer than you would like.
FAQ
Should feature names be translated? It depends whether the name is a product noun or a description. Coined and branded names stay in English everywhere; descriptive names like bulk export or two-factor authentication should translate.
Is keeping everything in English safer? It is lower effort rather than lower risk. A descriptive feature left untranslated makes the product read as foreign and makes the feature harder to find in local search.
Where should naming decisions be recorded? In a pinned glossary so a general translation match cannot overwrite them, and in shared memory so every surface resolves the same way without anyone having to remember.
What does renaming a feature cost? Finding and updating every mention in every language, plus a long period where customers and support use both names. A quality pass across the corpus after a rename surfaces the stragglers.
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