Presidents Day, or George Washington Day?

Did you know that in Virginia the federal holiday celebrated on Monday, Feb. 20 is officially named George Washington Day?

Section 2.2-3300 of the Virginia State Code, which outlines legal state holidays, says:

• The third Monday in February - George Washington Day to honor George Washington (1732-1799), the first President of the United States.

The Virginia list of legal holidays does not include Washington's Birthday, Presidents Day, Washington-Lincoln Day or even Mardi Gras (although that's the same week, and fun too).

In fact, while Lincoln's birthday is an official holiday in some states, it is not a federal holiday, and the term "Presidents Day" was created by advertisers.

More about the history of the federal holiday called Presidents Day, from Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia:

Presidents' Day is the common name for the holiday created to honor U.S. presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, whose birthdays were Feb. 22, 1732, and Feb. 12, 1809, respectively. However, the official name for the federal holiday is still Washington's Birthday. The first U.S. president's birthday on February 22 began to be celebrated as a holiday in the District of Columbia in 1880. It became a federal holiday in 1885.

In 1968 the U.S. Congress moved the official observance of Washington's birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February as a result of the Uniform Monday Holidays Act. This act established the observance of certain holidays on Mondays. This would supposedly give families a three-day weekend and would minimize midweek holiday interruptions for businesses. One draft of the act proposed to rename the holiday Presidents' Day to honor both Washington and Lincoln. This version did not pass. But President Richard Nixon (and many others) referred to the holiday as Presidents' Day; the new name took hold.

The name Presidents' Day was appearing regularly in holiday advertisements and in the media by the mid-1980s. Many businesses stay open on the holiday each year and offer special bargains and sales. A Presidents' Day that celebrated Washington and Lincoln (and that—in some places—honored all of the American presidents) began to become popular. Then the problem of how to spell Presidents' Day arose. The Associated Press stylebook placed the apostrophe between the t and s (President's Day). A number of reference guides put the apostrophe after the s. This group saw the day as celebrating many presidents rather than just one. Both spellings are currently used (as is Presidents Day) and are considered correct by various dictionaries and usage manuals.

Presidents' Day. (2012). Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 13, 2012, from Grolier Online http://0-gme.grolier.com.libsys.arlingtonva.us/article?assetid=10002647