Inverted comma ( ‘ )

This mark is used in place of a c in proper names having the prefix Mac contracted into Mc, or M‘; as Macdougall, McDougall, or M‘Dougall, where it will be observed that no space intervenes between the two parts of the word. But the apostrophe, not the inverted comma, is used in certain Irish names beginning with O’, as O’Donnell. Inverted commas are also used to mark the commencement of a quotation. Foreign founders cast them double.—See Quotation Marks.