"Keeping up with the Jones's ... the Jones'? ... Joneses?"
Whether you're having a gift box engraved with your clients' last name for a closing gift, giving the newlyweds a set of marble coasters with their last name etched into them, or sending out your family's holiday cards, I think all of us have at least once questioned, "How do I make a last name plural??"
Let me break it down into 2 easy-to-remember rules for you.
Rule #1: Never ever ever is there an apostrophe needed. Unless the gift is for "The Johnsons' goldfish", you're only making the last name plural, not possessive. So simply add an "s" to the end of the family's last name to make it plural.
But what do you do when the last name already ends with "s"? "Joness" just doesn't look right...
Rule #2: Names that end in sibilants (s, sh, ch, z, and x) are made plural by adding "es" to the end of the name.
Some examples would be:
Williams = Williamses
Jones = Joneses
Bush = Bushes
Gomez = Gomezes
Et voilà! I hope this helps you with your gift-giving or holiday greeting card designing in the future. And save this email so you don't forget!
Happy Gifting,
- Kelsey
P.S. If you'd still like to avoid the issue entirely, you can always just use "The Jones Family" so the name is neither possessive nor plural!
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