Silly questions: Is it "The Hamptons" or "the Hamptons"

[Celeste Stewart]

Not being familiar with the area, is it "The Hamptons" or "the Hamptons"? I'm thinking "the Hamptons" but yet I don't know if that's just how people refer to the area casually or if it's officially named "The Hamptons." Seems like it's unofficially referred to as THE Hamptons yet I'm a gazillion miles away and clueless as to how people capitalize it And of course, you see it both ways online.

[Judith]

I have been to the Hamptons a few times and I have seen it spelled both ways, but in older ads and literature it is referred to as "the Hamptons." I think in more recent years people place "the" in upper case just because they like how it looks. The hamlets in Hampton Bays are actually named East Hampton, Westhampton, and Southampton and are commonly called the exclusive Hamptons. I would go with "the Hamptons." Only East Hampton is written with two words, including on maps. Hope this is a little helpful.

[Celeste Stewart]

Thank you. That helps.

[SJHillman]

I think it's the same way you group any proper nouns... the Smith family would be the Smiths, not The Smiths unless it's a title. The Wikipedia article also consistently uses "the Hamptons" - and if you can't trust grammar on Wikipedia, where can you trust it? >_>