Presidents Day Without Apostrophe

Happy Presidents’ Day! Or is it President’s Day? Or Presidents Day? What you call the national holiday depends on where you are, who you’re honoring, and how you think we’re celebrating.

Saying "President’s Day" implies that the day belongs to a singular president, such as George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, whose birthdays are the basis for the holiday. On the other hand, referring to it as "Presidents’ Day" means that the day belongs to all of the presidents — that it’s their day collectively. Finally, calling the day "Presidents Day" — plural with no apostrophe — would indicate that we’re honoring all Presidents of the United States, past and present, but that no one president actually owns the day.

You would think that in the more than 140 years since "Washington’s Birthday" was declared a holiday in 1879, someone would have officially declared a way to spell the day. Maybe that indecision comes from the fact that Presidents Day, isn’t even a federal holiday. The federal holiday technically still is called “Washington’s Birthday,” and states can choose to call it whatever they want.