# Name of, and style guide for "numberless" end notes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-and-style-guide-for-numberless-end-notes/646649>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 9, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-and-style-guide-for-numberless-end-notes/646649 "2013-01-09T18:07:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-and-style-guide-for-numberless-end-notes/646649/1 "2013-01-09T18:07:13Z")

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Most modern biographies and history books that aim to include non-scholarly readers use an end note style that is indexed using short snippets of the text, rather than numbers within the text. That is, the note reads:

“John had lost his spectacles” - Letter to R.H. Numbnuts, 9/16/54.

Is there a name for this style, and do any of the standard style guides outline the format and style? (I have only an older CMS here…)

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**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-and-style-guide-for-numberless-end-notes/646649/2 "2013-01-21T17:48:18Z")

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Bump, because I’d like to know, too.