Smith → Smiths
Garcia → Garcias
Gupta → Guptas
Romano → Romanos
Nguyen → Nguyens
There are exceptions, however, for people whose last names end in ch, s, sh, z, or x.
Need to send Christmas wishes to the March, Walsh, Davis, and Gonzalez families? Here are some names that are often spelled plural incorrectly. For example, Gonzalez is very often spelled Gonzalez's, which is incorrect. The apostrophe indicates possession.
What is the correct way to pluralize surnames in English? Add es to the end of surnames ending in z . Do the same when pluralizing surnames ending in s , ch , or sh . For example, Mr. and Mrs. Claus become Clauses.
For example:
March → Marches
Jones → Joneses
Walsh → Walshes
Davis → Davises
Gutierrez → Gutierrezes
Gonzalez → Gonzalezes
There are two possible ways to pluralize a surname ending in x , and to avoid grammatical errors, you may need to say the name out loud. Pay attention to see if you can hear the x sound .
For surnames ending in an x sound , add es . For surnames ending in a silent x , add s .
For example:
Beaux → Beauxs
Cox → Coxes
When the plural of a common noun ends in y , we drop the y and add ies . Similarly, for words ending in i , we add es. That's how puppy becomes puppies and chili becomes chilis.
This is not true for proper nouns. You should never change the spelling of a name, even when making it plural. Instead, pluralizing surnames that end in y or i simply requires you to add an s to the end.
For example:
Murphy → Murphys
Rosetti → Rosettis
Zachary → Zacharys
Godoy → Godoys
The rules for using apostrophes can be confusing! You've probably seen people pluralize last names by adding an apostrophe—like Jones or Paulson. This isn't correct.
" To make simple plurals, there's no need for an apostrophe: Muellers, Changs, Sanchezes ," McLendon says . " But a lot of people still add an apostrophe there, so other people think, Oh, that's probably true, even though I thought I learned in school that we don't need an apostrophe there ."
In short: Apostrophes are used to show ownership or possession, not to name a group or make a surname plural. In other words, if you're referring to the Jones family, you'd address the card as Jones. If you're talking about their house, you'd write "the Jones house."