Somewhere along the line, one-time Georgia Gov. George M. Troup grew an “e.”

Not everywhere; nor all at once. Still, depending on what street sign you see or how some folks spell their address, the street in Troup’s honor is both right and wrong half of the time.

The Valdosta Daily Times’ offices are on Troup Street. Troup is the right way to spell it. The street honors Gov. George M. Troup, whose plantation, Val d’Aosta, inspired the name of Valdosta.

Yet, on several street signs, especially in the past, Troup was spelled “Troupe.” I believed this was the correct spelling for my first few years in Valdosta, because most of the street signs on the way to work spelled the name with that concluding “e.”

One recent map, even has the street divided as half being Troup and the other half Troupe.

Troupe Street would be more likely to honor a group of dancers, such as a ballet troupe, rather than a Georgia governor who spelled his name Troup.

Maybe half of the street was intended as an honor to the governor and the other to a performing troupe.

Or maybe Gov. George M. Troup was a ballet dancer. Then the spelling Troupe serves double-duty as an honor to him. But I don’t think tights and a tutu were in a governor’s repertoire back in the 1800s. At least, not publicly for a 19th century governor.

Still, you don’t see that misspelling as much any more. The “e” has been dropped from most street signs, making Troupe the correct Troup Street. At least the side of the street sign facing my office window is spelled correctly. However, also visible from my window is the sign on the Salvation Army building proclaiming its address as Troupe Street.

In fairness to the Salvation Army, The Valdosta Daily Times has spelled it both ways through the years, too. Some new reporters have even spelled it as Troop or Troope.

What I have noticed more recently is the misspelling of Forrest Street.

Like the more common use of “troupe” rather than “troup,” the more common spelling of the other is “forest” rather than “forrest.” A one-“r” forest denotes a wooded area. A two-“r” forrest denotes a name.

In the case of Forrest Street, it is named for a name rather than being named for a forest. Forrest Street is more likely named for an African-American who donated items to the Valdosta Institute, according to the Lowndes County Historical Society, rather than the Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, as some suppose, or Forrest Gump. But it’s spelled like both of these names.

This is another common misspelling of a Valdosta street name; however, it has better maintained its two-“r” characteristic than Troup has been in not gaining an “e.”

Yet, that may be changing. I’ve noticed far more reports dropping the second “r” in Forrest from address labels to the big yellow sign on Bemiss Road marking Forest rather than Forrest Street.