Peace, Love, Joy – And Accuracy

The holidays are just around the corner! Are you already planning your family's holiday cards? With so many beautiful templates, high-quality cardstock, and online services, your task of designing and mailing holiday cards is a cinch.
 
Be sure to give yourself the gift of accuracy. Ensure your family’s name is presented correctly on your cards. Hint: There should never be an apostrophe!

Read on below to learn how to portray your name on your cards correctly.

​Holiday cards list your family as a plural proper noun – not a possessive proper noun (even if you are ready to hoard some holiday cookies possessively!).
 
Many last names often just need an s added to the end. Some names, however, get a different treatment:

• If the name ends in s, z, ch, or sh, then add es.
• If the name ends in x (and it sounds like an x), then add es.
• If the name ends in a silent x, then add an s.

 
Take a look at a few examples of correct and incorrect plural proper last names, as well as some alternate approaches.

Oh, and by the way, it’s Happy Holidays – not Happy Holiday’s!

CORRECT
Anderson = The Andersons
King = The Kings
Jones = The Joneses
Berry = The Berrys
Gonzalez = The Gonzalezes
MacInnes = The MacInneses
Felix = The Felixes
Thibodeaux = The Thibodeauxs
 
ALTERNATES
Thibodeaux = The Thibodeaux Family

INCORRECT
The Anderson’s and The Andersones
The Berry’s, The Berryes, The Berries, and The Berrys
The Gonzalez’s and The Gonzalez’es
The Jones’es, The Jones’, and The Jones’s
The King’s
The MacInnes’, The MacInnes’es, and The MacInnes’s
The Thibodeauxes and The Thibodeaux’s
 
Wishing you peace, love, joy, and grammar cheer!