Editing Apostrophe (section)

====Possessives in geographic names====<!-- This section is linked from Apostrophe -->
Place names in the United States do not use the possessive apostrophe on federal maps and signs.<ref name=TimesGeo>{{cite news |title=Apostrophe Cops: Don't Be So Possessive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/10/magazine/sunday-march-10-1996-apostrophe-cops-don-t-be-so-possessive.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] (Sunday Magazine) |date=10 March 1996 |access-date=14 February 2017 |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817173959/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/10/magazine/sunday-march-10-1996-apostrophe-cops-don-t-be-so-possessive.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[United States Board on Geographic Names]], which has responsibility for formal naming of municipalities and geographic features, has deprecated the use of possessive apostrophes since 1890 so as not to show ownership of the place.<ref name=TimesGeo/><ref name=TheBoard/> Only five names of natural features in the US are officially spelled with a genitive apostrophe: [[Martha's Vineyard]]; [[Ike's Point]], New Jersey; [[John E's Pond]], Rhode Island; [[Carlos Elmer|Carlos Elmer's Joshua View]], Arizona; and [[Clark's Mountain]], Oregon.<ref name=TheBoard>[https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/how-do-i How Do I? |US Geological Survey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328054944/https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/how-do-i |date=28 March 2023}}. usgs.gov. Retrieved on 31 March 2023.</ref><ref>Cavella, C, and Kernodle, RA, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070614121856/http://www.american.edu/tesol/wpkernodlecavella.pdf How the Past Affects the Future: the Story of the Apostrophe]. american.edu</ref> Some municipalities, originally incorporated using the apostrophe, have dropped it in accordance with this policy; [[Taylors Falls]] in Minnesota, for example, was originally incorporated as "Taylor's Falls".<ref>{{cite book |volume=17 |title=Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance |last=Upham |first=Warren |date=1920 |chapter=Taylor's Falls |page=110 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShcLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA110}}</ref> On the state level, the federal policy is not always followed: [[Vermont]]'s official state website has a page on [[Camel's Hump State Forest]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fpr.vermont.gov/camels-hump-state-forest-0|title=Camel's Hump State Forest|date=2020|agency=Agency of Natural Resources|department=Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation|website=Vermont Official State Website|access-date=24 July 2020|archive-date=13 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913192348/https://fpr.vermont.gov/camels-hump-state-forest-0|url-status=live}}</ref>

Australia's [[Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping]] also has a no-apostrophe policy, a practice it says goes back to the 1900s<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping]] |url=http://www.icsm.gov.au/cgna/consistent_place_names_guidelines.pdf |title=Guidelines for the Consistent Use of Place Names |date=April 2012 |access-date=27 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409225240/http://www.icsm.gov.au/cgna/consistent_place_names_guidelines.pdf |archive-date=9 April 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and which is generally followed around the country.<ref>"The apostrophe has been dropped from most Australian place-names and street names: ''Connells Point''; ''Wilsons Promontory''; ''Browns Lane''." ''The Penguin Working Words: an Australian Guide to Modern English Usage'', Penguin, 1993, p.&nbsp;41.</ref>

On the other hand, the United Kingdom has [[Bishop's Stortford]], [[Bishop's Castle]] and [[King's Lynn]] (among many others) but [[St Albans]], [[St Andrews]] and [[St Helens, Merseyside|St Helens]]. London Underground's Piccadilly line has the adjacent stations of [[Earl's Court tube station|Earl's Court]] in [[Earl's Court]] and [[Barons Court tube station|Barons Court]]. These names were mainly fixed in form many years before grammatical rules were fully standardised. While [[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United]] play [[association football|football]] at a stadium called [[St James' Park]], and [[Exeter City]] at [[St James Park, Exeter|St James Park]], London has a [[St James's Park]] (this whole area of London is named after the parish of [[St James's Church, Piccadilly]]<ref>[http://www.st-james-piccadilly.org/ St James's Church Piccadilly website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429004322/http://www.st-james-piccadilly.org/ |date=29 April 2011}}. St-james-piccadilly.org. Retrieved on 7 April 2013.</ref>).

Modern usage has been influenced by considerations of technological convenience including the economy of typewriter ribbons and films, and similar computer character "disallowance" which tend to ignore past standards.<ref>E.g., under [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264 Naming conventions in Active Directory for computers, domains, sites, and OUs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726165249/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264 |date=26 July 2011}} at Microsoft Support</ref> Practice in the United Kingdom and Canada is not so uniform.<ref>''The Cambridge Guide to English Usage'', Ed. Peters, P, 2004, p.&nbsp;43.</ref>