Talk:Webbs Mills, New York

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Requested move 17 August 2015[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (non-admin closure) sovereign°sentinel (contribs) 10:11, 1 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Webbs Mills, New York → Webb Mills, New York – The Geographic Names Information System calls this place "Webb Mills" (though it gives "Webb's Mills" and "Webbs Mills" as variant names), and the name appears thus on the relevant USGS topograhic map. On the other hand, the local volunteer fire department does seem to call itself the Webbs Mills Volunteer Fire Department. Both versions get roughly equal numbers of Google hits. The relevant rule at WP:NCGN is: "The United States Board on Geographic Names determines official Federal nomenclature for the United States. Most often, actual American usage follows it, even in such points as the omission of apostrophes, as in St. Marys River. However, if colloquial usage does differ, we should prefer actual American usage to the official name." So I guess the question is whether colloquial usage does significantly differ in this case, or whether the "Webbs" version is an older version that has persisted in at least one organization name but has been superseded in common usage. Deor (talk) 20:54, 17 August 2015 (UTC) --Relisted. George Ho (talk) 01:09, 25 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Weak oppose. Not being a resident, I can't answer the question conclusively. That the volunteer fire department and the cemetery are called "Webbs Mills" would support that spelling strongly (there is even a book called Webbs Mills, New York, which is apparently about the cemetery); but the local Methodist church uses the form "Webb Mills" in its name. Others have encountered this ambiguity before. You are probably right about it being a matter of older usage versus newer usage, but given the lack of strong evidence either way, and the apparent past preference of the spelling "Webbs Mills", I would move to keep the title as is. And sometimes lesser known places do have more than one common and concurrent usage, which may be the case here. — the Man in Question (in question) 04:47, 25 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose Webbs Mills seems to be the most common name. Andrew D. (talk) 07:16, 25 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.