Do we use a hyphen or an en-dash to connect bride and groom in marriage citations?

By F.T.C. on Sat, 03/09/2024 - 15:24

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Hello, EE,

In EE4, section 8.23, page 301, you provide an example of a citation in which the parties to the marriage are linked by either a hyphen or an en-dash. Looking at it, I'm not sure which punctuation mark I'm seeing between the two surnames. A hyphen seems reasonable since the two names are being connected, but I wonder if an en-dash sometimes fulfills the same purpose. Which am I seeing, please?

Thank you.

F.T.C.

Submitted byEEon Mon, 03/11/2024 - 10:17

Hi, F.T.C. It's a hyphen that connects. Compare it to the en dash in 1969–75, nine lines below it.

Beyond this specific case, your interpretation is correct: a hyphen connects (which is what we'd want in reference to a Rogers-Morgan marriage), while an en dash implies a range from this to that (which is the situation when we say that a record was issued somewhere between 1969 and 1975).

Beyond even that, the spacing of characters is something controlled by the algorithms of the font and software we're using. Sometimes lines are a bit tight and sometimes they're a bit loose, each of which effects how we visually read things.  Amid uncertainties that can cause, it definitely helps to understand the basic difference between a hyphen and an en dash!