The Possessive Apostrophe in Names

Abstract

AN ASSOCIATED PRESS news item indicates that the conflict over Hell's Canyon has now spread from the issue of public versus private power to the question of the use of the apostrophe. Sam Fretwell, of Parma, Idaho, chairman of the Idaho-Oregon-Washington's Hell's Canyon Association, is quoted: 'We always spell it Hell's Canyon.' But Gilbert Stanton, public relations director for the Idaho Power Company, states: 'It's Hells Canyon as far as we're concerned.' Though indexed with an apostrophe, the titles collected in the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature display both forms. A check of seven periodicals during the first week of July, 1957, showed them preferring the form without the apostrophe five to two. The question whether to use an apostrophe in the names of cities, topographical features, colleges, books, magazines, associations, and businesses is indeed troublesome. A word of this kind may take an apostrophe, and then again it may not. Webster's New International (with the apostrophe) lists Devil's Bit Mountains and Devil's Island, but also Devils Lake and Devils Tower National Monument. Some conflict exists between forms recommended by standard reference works. The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World lists Devilsbit Mountains or Devil's Bit Mountains in that order, but Webster's Geographical Dictionary lists only Devil's Bit Mountains. Columbia lists Devils Island, Saint Mary's Peak (Australia), Kings Peak (Utah), and Land's End or Lands End; but Webster records Devil's Island, Saint Mary* Peak, King's Peak, and Lands End or Land's End.