Q. As the editor of my workplace magazine, I have to alphabetize lists of donors and members. I can find no references to the following situation in the Manual: a man and woman donate as a couple (and thus will be included as one entry on the list) but have different last names. This seems to be an etiquette question, but exploring those references has not helped either. Should the names be alphabetized by whichever partner’s name is listed first on the form submitted by the donors or by the man’s last name? Please share your insight.
A. By the man’s last name? That would be one way to do it. (How eager are you for the women who wrote the checks to donate again?) But it would be more politic to follow the order listed on the form.