Table and column naming conventions when plural and singular forms are odd or the same

Question

In my search I found mostly arguments for whether to use plurality in database naming conventions, and ways to handle it in either case. I have decided I prefer plural table names, so I don't want to argue that.

I need to represent an animal's species and genus and so on in a database. The plural and singular form for 'species' are the same, and the plural of 'genus' is 'genera'.

I'm using Microsoft's Entity Data Model, by the way. My concern is mainly about whether I'll have problems later on depending on my naming choices.

I think I can get by with: Table: Genera | Column: Genus

But I'm unsure how I should handle: Table: Species | Column: Species

If I really wanted to be lazy about this I'd just name them 'species > specie' and 'genuses > genus', but I would prefer to read them in their correct forms.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I would go for Genera/Genus and Species/Species. That's how you say it in English, so why using an incorrect form of the word?