Whether you prefer to send Christmas blessings, holiday wishes or season's greetings, you're probably sending them on behalf of your family, and that means pluralizing your last name. This happens to be one of my favorite grammatical rules to teach!
The easy way to address a family as a group is to call them the (insert name here) family. Example: the Crawford family. But it's important to know how to properly pluralize all kinds of last names, so let's do that.
1. For the most part, last names can be made plural simply by adding an s. You'll note that in all the examples below there is no apostrophe. This is because we do not use apostrophes for pluralizing names, only to show possession.
Let's look at the names Crawford, Smith and Di Rossi. For these, we can just add s.
Correct: Crawfords, Smiths, Di Rossis
2. If the name ends in y, we still only add an s. (Side note: For common nouns that end in y, we change the y to i and add es - think candy/candies - but we don't ever do that with names.) This rule works for any name ending in y such as Murphy, Kelly and Cody.
Correct: Murphys, Kellys, Codys
Still with me? The next one is my personal favorite to bust out at parties, because there's always someone in the crowd with one of these last names and often they don't even know how to pluralize it themselves.
3. When the name ends in a sibilant - such as s or es, x, z, sh, or ch - then you add es. Examples: Spears, Hodges, Cox, Mendez, Marsh, Finch.
Correct: Spearses, Hodgeses, Coxes, Mendezes, Marshes, Finches
Remember, we're talking about names, not common nouns. If a name ends in s or es, that doesn't make it plural - you have to add es. If you want to take the easy way out, you can say the Hodges family, the Spears family, etc. Just remember that you can NEVER use an apostrophe to pluralize a last name - or any other word, for that matter.
Now go forth and sign those cards with confidence from The (Your Last Name)s!
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