Ordonez vs. Ordoñez

Magglio Ordoñez, the patron saint of Detroit, is from Venezuela, where they do funny things with names. For instance, Magglio's dad, Maglio, added an extra "g" to his little slugger's name for good luck.

They also like to put those funny accent thingys (when I want to impress the ladies, I call them diacritical marks) over certain letters. Like "Ordoñez." But then why do most newspapers and Web sites do "Ordonez"? It's because many publications take a scorched-earth style policy to accents. They figure that they print in English, English doesn't use diacritical marks, they don't need no stinking diacritical marks.

I agree with that, except for names. "Resume" looks dumb with those cowlicks sticking off each "e," but a name is a name. So long as the name is impossible to read as spelled (let's say some punk rocker named Fred spelled his name "#$%@!^^^^" -- I'd still want to spell it "Fred"), I think publications should honor name spellings.

And, honestly, we should do whatever Magglio asks these days. Viva los Tigres!