On the OPM website, there is a list of federal holidays as a reference for what days off federal employees will get.

For February 18, 2013, the holiday listed is Washington’s Birthday with an asterisk.

At the bottom of the page is this explanation:

* This holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday” in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

Townhall, the Barbara Bush Foundation and the Cato Institute all refer to it as Presidents Day. The Heritage Foundation focuses on Washington but their blogger mistakenly thinks it’s Presidents Day apparently.

We need a resurgence of people referring to the holiday as its proper name. I don’t want a holiday that celebrates Presidents Carter, Obama, Clinton Harding, Grant, F.D. Roosevelt, and others I find not worthy of praise and I’m sure the same goes for everyone else (with a different list obviously.) Even if it is easier for people having mattress sales or people who want to include every worth president, it’s not the correct name.

If we’re only going to honor one President with a holiday in his name, then there is no one more fitting of that honor than George Washington.