Occasionally, I'll see someone incorrectly use the possessive and/or the plural of a name. So, being an English major, I thought I would do the community a favor and present this guide to writing names correctly. (I know, I know -- but if you're not interested, don't worry about it. If you want to be taken seriously, though [both here on Usenet and in school and the real world], I'd recommend checking this out.)
The Simpson family
-- All of the family: the Simpsons
-- Something owned by one member: Simpson's (e.g., Homer Simpson's tie,
Lisa Simpson's saxomophone)
-- Something belonging to the entire family: the Simpsons' (e.g., the
Simpsons' house, the Simpsons' upcoming trial)The Flanders family, which can be tough because it ends with -s -- All of the family: the Flanderses* (e.g., those are the Flanderses) -- Something owned by one member: Flanders's (e.g. Ned Flanders's car)# -- Something belonging to the entire family: the Flanderses' (e.g., that is the Flanderses' house+)
- The show has on occasion mentioned the entire family as "the Flanders," but this is absolutely incorrect. The only correct plural is "Flanderses."
# If you desire, you can also write this as "Ned Flanders' car." In general, though, your readers might be better off with "Flanders's."
+ Also, the show had used this construction: "That's the Flanders' house." This too is wrong. The only correct way to say this is: "That's the Flanderses' house" (pronounce the name as if the apostrophe wasn't there).