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Inversion

Inversion is the practice of displaying a multi-word heading or subheading in a word order other than that used in natural language. Its purpose is to make it easier for users to find an entry by making a term that otherwise would not be one into the leading term. It is especially common in posting personal names, as in this example:

Jones, John
Smith, Robert

Inverting the given name and surname makes it easier for users to locate an entry for a person. Inverting personal names like this has been common practice for a very long time and is likely to remain so.

Inverting subject headings, however, has been a contentious issue among indexers. For example: at one time, initial articles in titles of literary or artistic works were always transposed and inversion was common in other entries as well, as indicated by these examples:

Armada, The
American Way of Death, The
cable, fiber optic
Hague, The
theology, Navaho

Today, almost all editors and standards would insist on:

The Armada
The American Way of Death
fiber optic cable
The Hague
Navaho theology

The movement in favor or direct entry in almost all cases is based largely on studies indicating that English-language speakers commonly think in terms of phrases.

Guidelines for inverting headings and subheadings:

Except for Icelandic names, Western-style personal names should follow the pattern of surname, comma, forename(s). Icelandic names consist of a forename and a patronymic that changes with each generation. Leif, the son of Eirikur, is named Leif Eiriksson. Thordis, his daughter, is named Thordis Eiriksdottir. She keeps her name even if she marries. Gunnar, Leif's son, is named Gunnar Leifsson. Icelanders are always referred to by their given names. Hence, index entries for Icelanders should consist of a forename followed by the patronymic without a comma in between. Because most people don't know about Icelandic names, there should be a cross-reference from the patronynic to the given name. For example:

Eiriksson, Leif. See Leif Eiriksson

Note that, in writing Hungarian names, the pattern is always surname followed by forename - e.g., Bartók Béla. For the sake of uniformity in indexing, a comma is added between the surname and forename, making Hungarian names indistinguishable from other Western-style names. For example: Bartók Béla is indexed as Bartók, Béla.
Consult the author, an editor or a standard reference work for rules governing the parsing of non-Western and other doubtful personal names. Standard works include The Chicago Manual of Style, by the University of Chicago Press; Indexing Books, by Nancy Mulvany, Indexing from A to Z, by Hans Wellisch, and Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary.
For names of corporate bodies, enter all words in its name without any inversion, even when the first part of the name is an initial article, a forename or initials standing for a forename. For example:

John Jay College of Criminal Justice, ...
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, ...
The Conference Board, ...
List names of Christian saints under some element of their name other than "Saint". For example:

Augustine, Saint
Francis of Assisi, Saint
Thomas Aquinas, Saint

Use the Catholic Encyclopedia as your guide to identifying the leading element in their names.
List all place names in uninverted form. For example:

Bay City
Bay of Bengal
Cape Cod
Cape May (New Jersey)
Lake Superior
Lake Success (New York)
Mount Everest
Mount Holly (New Jersey)
Sea of Japan

Note that this guideline is controversial because it ignores the distinction between a geographic feature such as a bay or mountain and a place name having the name of a geographic feature as its leading term. Those who act on the distinction list geographic features in inverted form and the names of places beginning with names of features in uninverted form. They would create the following headings:

Bay City
Bengal, Bay of
Cape May (New Jersey)
Cod, Cape
Everest, Mount
Japan, Sea of
Lake Success (New York)
Mount Holly (New Jersey)
Superior, Lake

Check with your editor to see whether the distinction is important to her.
Add see references if users are likely to search using the uninverted form of a phrase that has been inverted. For example:

Cape May. See May, Cape
Cape May (New Jersey), ....
May, Cape, ....
Consider using double-posting as a way to make a likely search term the leading term. For example:

Board of Education of Topeka, Brown v., 84
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 84
:::
American Society of Indexers, 16
Indexers, American Society of, 16

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