Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name? Forum

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engineer

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Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by engineer » Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:28 pm

According to B5.1.1(ii), you're supposed to omit initials and include only the surname. In one of the cases to which I'm citing, the appellant is "A.B.C., Jr., a child, v. State of Lalalalalalala" -- I'm abbreviating that to "A.B.C. v. State," since the state is clear from the jurisdiction info. I'm considering "Jr." to be an "initial" as far as the bluebook is concerned. Is this correct?

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ggocat

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Re: Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by ggocat » Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:46 pm

Although BB does not appear to address the issue, I would omit it. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends omitting such abbreviations (jr., sr., II, III, etc.) when only the surname is used in the text. Because we typically use only the surname in case names, I think we would typically not include "jr." in the case name. I think it would be natural to omit "jr." with an abbreviated child's name in the case name.

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mikeytwoshoes

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Re: Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by mikeytwoshoes » Sun Apr 04, 2010 5:48 pm

engineer wrote:According to B5.1.1(ii), you're supposed to omit initials and include only the surname. In one of the cases to which I'm citing, the appellant is "A.B.C., Jr., a child, v. State of Lalalalalalala" -- I'm abbreviating that to "A.B.C. v. State," since the state is clear from the jurisdiction info. I'm considering "Jr." to be an "initial" as far as the bluebook is concerned. Is this correct?
I think "Jr." is a given name following a surname. See rule 10.2.1(g).

Renzo

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Re: Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by Renzo » Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:43 am

mikeytwoshoes wrote:
engineer wrote:According to B5.1.1(ii), you're supposed to omit initials and include only the surname. In one of the cases to which I'm citing, the appellant is "A.B.C., Jr., a child, v. State of Lalalalalalala" -- I'm abbreviating that to "A.B.C. v. State," since the state is clear from the jurisdiction info. I'm considering "Jr." to be an "initial" as far as the bluebook is concerned. Is this correct?
I think "Jr." is a given name following a surname. See rule 10.2.1(g).
There aren't really given names that follow surnames in English/western European names. Omit the Jr.

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mikeytwoshoes

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Re: Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by mikeytwoshoes » Mon Apr 05, 2010 1:07 pm

Renzo wrote:
mikeytwoshoes wrote:
engineer wrote:According to B5.1.1(ii), you're supposed to omit initials and include only the surname. In one of the cases to which I'm citing, the appellant is "A.B.C., Jr., a child, v. State of Lalalalalalala" -- I'm abbreviating that to "A.B.C. v. State," since the state is clear from the jurisdiction info. I'm considering "Jr." to be an "initial" as far as the bluebook is concerned. Is this correct?
I think "Jr." is a given name following a surname. See rule 10.2.1(g).
There aren't really given names that follow surnames in English/western European names. Omit the Jr.
It's a part of one's given name (Joe Jr., Dan Jr.). If you omit it, the case name is possibly imprecise and the reader could mistake an unrelated case for the one you want to cite.

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Renzo

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Re: Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by Renzo » Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:30 pm

mikeytwoshoes wrote:
Renzo wrote:
mikeytwoshoes wrote:
engineer wrote:According to B5.1.1(ii), you're supposed to omit initials and include only the surname. In one of the cases to which I'm citing, the appellant is "A.B.C., Jr., a child, v. State of Lalalalalalala" -- I'm abbreviating that to "A.B.C. v. State," since the state is clear from the jurisdiction info. I'm considering "Jr." to be an "initial" as far as the bluebook is concerned. Is this correct?
I think "Jr." is a given name following a surname. See rule 10.2.1(g).
There aren't really given names that follow surnames in English/western European names. Omit the Jr.
It's a part of one's given name (Joe Jr., Dan Jr.). If you omit it, the case name is possibly imprecise and the reader could mistake an unrelated case for the one you want to cite.
If this were a real concern we wouldn't omit first names, or leave off all party names other than the first listed. It's why we have numerical reporter citations. After all, how many cases do you think there are called "United States v. City of New York?" A million?

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mikeytwoshoes

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Re: Bluebook question: omit "jr." in a name?

Post by mikeytwoshoes » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:08 pm

Renzo wrote:
mikeytwoshoes wrote:
Renzo wrote:
mikeytwoshoes wrote: I think "Jr." is a given name following a surname. See rule 10.2.1(g).
There aren't really given names that follow surnames in English/western European names. Omit the Jr.
It's a part of one's given name (Joe Jr., Dan Jr.). If you omit it, the case name is possibly imprecise and the reader could mistake an unrelated case for the one you want to cite.
If this were a real concern we wouldn't omit first names, or leave off all party names other than the first listed. It's why we have numerical reporter citations. After all, how many cases do you think there are called "United States v. City of New York?" A million?
I don't even know why we're arguing this but I think the bolded is false. We both know that Bluebook is anal x 10. The editors are looking for both precision and brevity in the rules. For fuck's sake, you get knocked down a letter grade for failing to italicize a period (.). You can't apply bluebook rules by common sense! You have to go by the book itself.

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