EEPOET OF THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC BOAED. 15 
(e) The discontinuance of the use of the hyphens in connecting 
parts of names. 
(/") The omission, wherever practicable, of the letters "C. H." 
(courthouse) 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 develop- 
ment. The possessive form of name 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 Harrisburg, 
an extensive 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" is very similar; the present tendency is strongly toward 
the substitution of the abbreviated form, and the Board, therefore, 
deems it advisable to induce uniformity in this matter in the manner 
indicated. 
In the case of the word "center" as part of a name, as Mansfield 
Center, Center Rutland, usage appears to be about equally divided 
between "center" and "centre," and the Board has adoJ)ted 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 "C. H.," meaning courthouse, 
to the name of a county seat is prevalent, especially in the Southern 
States. Frequently the place has two names, one being its charter 
name, the other the name of the county with "C. H." appended; 
thus the county seat of Raleigh County, W. Va., is known as Beck- 
ley and as Raleigh C. H. 
The tendency toward simplification is in no way shown more 
decidedly than in the combination of the several words forming a 
name. Thus "La Fayette" has become well-nigh universally "La- 
fayette," and "El Dorado" has become "Eldorado." The Board 
approves this tendency and will further it so far as possible with- 
out forestalling usage too greatly. 
The use of diacritic characters in geographic names in the United 
States, such as the German umlaut and the Spanish tilde, is rapidly 
disappearing. It would be impossible, even were it desirable, to 
oppose this change. 
