6 UNITED STATES BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES,- 
POLICY OF THE BOARD. 
The Board is agreed that in general the name which is in common 
local use at present should be adopted. This is a broad general prin- 
ciple, and summarizes the policy of the Board, with the exception of 
certain classes of cases mentioned below. It covers cases of changes or 
corruptions of names, except where such changes or corruptions are 
considered to be unworthy of perpetuation. 
The difficulties encountered in carrying out this principle are found 
mainly in determining what is local usage, or the prevailing local usage 
where it is divided between different forms. Where the local usage is 
so divided, opportunity is afforded for the selection of the more appro- 
priate and euphonious of the names in use. 
The Board considers it desirable to depart from local usage in certain 
cases in order to effect reforms in nomenclature. Among these de- 
partures approved by the Board are the following: 
(a) The avoidance, so far as seems practicable, of the possessive form 
of names. 
(b) The dropping of the final "h" in the termination " burgh." 
(c) The abbreviation of "borough" to "boro." 
(d) The spelling of the word "center" as here given. 
(e) The discontinuance of the use of hyphens in connecting parts of 
names. 
(/) The omission wherever practicable of the letters "C. H." (Court 
House) after the names of county seats. 
(g) The simplification of names consisting of more than one word by 
their combination into one word. 
(h) The avoidance of the use of diacritic characters. 
(i) The dropping of the words "city" and "town" as parts of names. 
All of these changes are warranted by the direction of development! 
The possessive form of names is rapidly disappearing, except in rare 
cases where good reason exists for its retention. In most cases this is 
effected by dropping the apostrophe and the final " s." In certain cases, 
however, usage or euphony appears to require the retention of the final 
" s" when the apostrophe only is dropped. 
Concerning the termination "burg" or "burgh," as Pittsburg, an ox- 
tensive correspondence has developed the fact that in more than three- 
fourths of the places having this termination the final " h " is not in local 
use. The case of the termination "boro" or "borough," as Attleboro. 
is very similar. The present tendency is strongly toward the substi- 
tution of the abbreviated form. The Board therefore deems it desirable 
and advisable to induce uniformity in this matter in the manner indi- 
cated. 
In the case of the word " center " as part of a name, as Mansfield Cen- 
ter, Center Rutland, usage appears to be about equally divided between 
center and centre, and the Board has adopted the first of the above 
forms of the word. 
Hyphens, in connecting parts of names, appear to be useless, while 
they add to the complexity of the spelling. 
The practice of adding the letters "0. EL." meaning court-house, to 
the name of a county seat is prevalent, especially in the southern states. 
Frequently the place lias two names, one being its charter name, the 
other the name of the county with " 0. II." appended; thus the comity 
seat of Baleigh County, W. Va., is known as Beckley and as Raleigh 
" C. H. " 
The tendency toward simplification is in noway shown more decidedly 
