Possessive Last Names Make the Baby Jesus Cry

Last updated on: November 25, 2017 at 5:00 am by JoAnna Wahlund

Possessive Last Names Make the Baby Jesus Cry 2017-11-25T05:00:44-08:00 JoAnna Wahlund

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Originally written for my old blog, but I thought it was worth putting here as well.

A Christmas card PSA from your friendly neighborhood copy editor. (Like Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility.)

When signing your Christmas card/letter (or creating return address labels), do not sign them like so:

Merry Christmas from the Wahlund’s!

If your intention is to send Christmas greetings on behalf of your entire family, then you want your last name to be plural, not possessive. For example:

Merry Christmas from the Wahlunds! means there is more than one Wahlund wishing you a Merry Christmas. In fact, the entire Wahlund family wishes you a Merry Christmas!

The possessive form, on the other hand, indicates that something belonging to the Wahlund family is wishing you a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the Wahlund’s… what? The Wahlund’s cat? The Wahlund’s dog? The Wahlund’s thermonuclear bomb facility?

If your last name ends with an ‘s’ or ‘z’, then your best bet is to use a workaround such as, “Merry Christmas from the Glass family!” Or you could add an -es, which works well for families who have a last name ending in -ch (e.g., “Merry Christmas from the Marches! Love, Meg, Jo, Beth, & Amy.”)

But for the love of all that is holy and innocent, do not use an apostrophe to create a plural form of a surname. Please.

Baby Jesus will thank you.

Sincerely,

Someone who has seen this on her received Christmas cards entirely too often.

Christmas

grammar

Previous Post

October 17, 2017

Setting Up an Emergency Fund in 2018

Next Post

January 25, 2018 Dear Catholic Parishes: Stop Holding the Sacraments Hostage

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abuse Scandal Advent Book News Book Reviews Catholic Teaching Catholic Witness Chesterton Christmas Commuting Cooking Cosplay CWM Profiles Daycare Family Gender at Work Giveaways Good Friday History Household Management Humor Instant Pot Life as a Catholic Working Mother Marriage and Family Maternity Leave Meal Planning Media Recommendations Miscarriage NFP Politics Pregnancy Pro-Life Pro-Life Pumping Racism Religious Education Reluctantly Working Rules and Regulations Sacraments Saints Scams TV Show Review Uncategorized Vocation Working for the Church

Select a Month January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 October 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 December 2015 November 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz