Does the possessive “s” go at the end of a proper noun ending in “s”? What’s the possessive of a name like James — James’ or James’s? Either’s correct, depending on your style guide. The AP Stylebook says you just use an apostrophe, but others say to add the “s”. Your best bet is to choose a style and then be consistent. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Possessive for Names Ending With S”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Yeah, hi, my name is Ryan, and I’m calling from actually Venus, Texas, which is south of the Metroplex, yeah.
Okay, south of Dallas, Fort Worth.
Yeah, just south of Dallas, Fort Worth. It’s actually, you know, everything’s becoming one big Metroplex here, so.
Yeah, what’s on your mind?
I had recently gotten to an argument with somebody and then a nice discussion with my librarian friend Amy about the possessive S at the end of my son’s name because there seems to be no hard, fast rule other than you just kind of write it how it’s pronounced.
But of course, you know, that led to some fun arguments in our family because my son’s name is Atticus.
And so when I wrote his name on a box and I needed to put the apostrophe S at the end, I put the apostrophe S because that’s how it’s pronounced.
Atticus is box.
And of course, I got grief, but no, you just put the apostrophe at the end.
So that’s really where I was, what I was calling about, getting the ruling on that.
I love that name, Atticus.
Yeah, thank you.
Do you use a certain style guide at work?
No.
Yeah, that’s another.
I’m working on my Ph.D., and when I was, I actually used the apostrophe S in an APA style paper, and I got dinged on it because you’re not supposed to do it.
But I still made the argument, you know, that’s what got me into looking it up, and I found, you know, some of the newspaper styles and stuff actually say it’s okay.
And really the only rule I could find consistently for something like a name is you’d write it how it sounds.
Like, for instance, Achilles’ heel is just Achilles with an apostrophe.
It’s not Achilles’ heel.
So that’s why with Atticus, I wrote the apostrophe as mainly just for clarity and for pronunciation because that’s all I could find.
This is a really interesting question.
Incredibly wonky, so of course we love it.
Pull up a chair.
Pull up a chair.
Here’s the thing.
We’ve already touched on this very important point when this kind of stuff comes up.
What style guide do you use is what controls this answer.
So if this were for the workplace, you mentioned the APA style guide, that’d be one.
You might use the Chicago Manual of Style or this AP style book or the ALA or just a ton of these different style guides, right? And their rules are different. They don’t agree on this stuff.
For example, there was something in a recent issue of the journal Copy Editing where this very question came up. And so the editor there compared what the Chicago Manual of Style has to say versus the Associated Press Manual of Style. And they differ on this.
Chicago says that if you have a singular proper noun ending in S, like Atticus, then you would use an apostrophe S. However, the Associated Press Style Guide says you would just use an apostrophe.
See, I always go with consistency.
I agree. That’s kind of my motto.
Yeah, well, that’s what style guides are about. They’re supposed to apply consistency to all written documents in a particular environment. You are fine to use apostrophe S or not, because unless you’ve pronounced a particular style guide, the style guide of your household.
There we go. I think I’m going to take your idea, and I’m going to deem an official style book of my household. Therefore, while you’re in my house, you use my style book.
I’m sorry. I didn’t hear that request. That’s not according to style.
Ryan the enforcer.
Exactly. Well, thank you. That helps. That helps. It’s clear as mud.
Yeah. Help clears mud.
Yeah, just don’t eat it. Thanks, Ryan.
All right. Well, thank you very much. Take care. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
