AP style month names

I was recently introduced to AP style month names, and I thought it
might be a useful addition to the date formats.
http://www.umw.edu/policies/style_guide/ap_style_guide/default.php

Jan.
Feb.
March
April
May
June
July
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.

This stems from a publishing client who is using a LAMP application I
created to manage their articles and prepare them for press.

Is this something that would be appropriate for php's date() function,
or is this too specialized?

Scott