September Q&A
Q. I have an author with (let’s say) the last name St. James and am having a hard time figuring out the
correct form for her bibliography entry. Is it correct to write St. James, Bertha? Or James, St. Bertha? HELP!!
A. Having the surname St. James doesn’t make one Saint James—or Saint Bertha; Bertha’s
surname starts with S.
Q. Would I alphabetize Kimberly Bowen-Smith Rinehart under B or under R?
A. We assume that the surname is the last word or hyphenated words in a name. Thus Kimberly Bowen-Smith Rinehart would go under
R; Kimberly Rinehart Bowen-Smith would go under B; and Kimberly Bowen Smith would go under S.
Q. I am overwhelmed by the task of alphabetizing a list of book titles, as many of the titles have colons, commas, and in some
cases, dashes separating the title and subtitle. It is all getting to be a bit much for me. Given the large number of titles
I am working with, I would prefer to ignore all punctuation, but what to do in the following situation? Would I ignore the
dash, the comma, and the colon and move on to the word following Band in the title? Believe it or not, these are actual examples: The Beatles—Rock Band; The Beatles, Rock Band; The Beatles: Rock Band; The Beatles Rock Band.
A. Normally the only punctuation marks that matter in alphabetizing are parentheses and commas, but in the case of titles with
subtitles, it might make sense to promote the colon to primary importance. In that case, The Beatles: Rock Band would come first. After that, decide the order you like for other punctuation marks and note it in your style sheet. In titles,
the dash and comma sometimes serve the same role as a colon (separating the title and subtitle), so you might put them next.
Please note, too, that this issue does not fall into the category of stuff that is important to readers. However you order
these nearly identical titles, they are all in one convenient location for the reader. It’s not worth
your sanity to let it overwhelm you.
Q. We are starting to include indexes in the books we publish here at my office. In 16.65, you say that “If
many numerals occur in an index, they may be listed together in numerical order at the beginning of the index, before the
As.” We include large letters at the beginning of each new section: A before the entries beginning with the letter A, etc. If we include a section of numbers before the letters, what would that section heading be? 0–9?
Numbers? It looks odd not having any title.
A. If A, B, C headings don’t work well with the content of a given index, they should be eliminated. Design serves
the text, and thereby the reader. The text should not be forced into a design that doesn’t work well.
Q. If a person has two last names, but they are not hyphenated, like Harriet Beecher Stowe, how do you alphabetize them—by Beecher or Stowe? Beecher is not her middle name. It is her maiden name.
A. In the absence of a hyphen, alphabetize by the final name, as you do with a man’s name. Since it’s usually not possible to know for certain the origin of the name in the middle, it is treated as a middle name (not a surname) by default. Not observing this simple rule would lead to chaos: Chantelle Rutherford Smith would be listed in some directories under Rutherford and others under Smith, even if Rutherford is a middle name she was given at birth. (Note that Spanish names have their own rules; please see CMOS 16.84.)
Q. In alphabetizing a list of donors that includes both foundations and individuals, is there a rule? The foundation would typically be ordered by the first word, but names by the last word. What do you do when they are combined in the same list?
A. Follow the same rules: alphabetize an organization under the first significant word, and an individual donor by surname. The Merry Gregg Foundation goes under M; Merry Gregg goes under G.
Chicago Style Q&A: New Questions and Answers
