Plurals and Apostrophes: no no no

My father just got these address labels in the mail.

I know this is something lots of people have trouble with - making the plural of names. You certainly see it on cards a lot, especially this time of year. And this charity expects my father to use these address labels - although what it says is the equivalent of "Jack's" or "the dog's"... a possessive label, that is, saying something belongs to "The Davis" (although we're Welsh, that is a Scottish name, so it could be... Nah. Besides, I digress...)

It's not that hard. Treat the name like any other noun.

To be specific, don't use an apostrophe.

There is only one time where an apostrophe is used to make a plural: abbreviations. (And then only when you're typing in one case and there might be confusion over whether you mean the plural of SST or some other abbreviation SSTS.) Nouns just add an ending, and names are the same as other nouns.

What's the ending? S, or ES, depending on the what name ends with. (Only one difference: proper names that end in -Y just add S, they don't change to -I and add -ES.)The sibilants, those letters or combinations that make a hissing sound, take ES: S, Z, X, CH, SH. Everything else takes S. This is the same as simple nouns: pass - passes; buzz - buzzes; fox - foxes; church - churches; bush - bushes.

So, it's Happy holidays from the

Williamses
Nashes
Birches
Joneses
Gonzalezes
Maddoxes
Hatches
Kennedys

And, of course, the Davises.