Apostophe help with SS ending

[RattusRattus]

What is the correct form for apostrophe placement when a name has a SS ending.

So, eg. option 1: Jess's cat, or option 2: Jess' cat.

NB. There is only 1 Jess.

[StealthPolarBear]

Either I think

[StealthPolarBear]

But I'd go for jess's

[campervan67]

I think Jess' is technically correct. But it does look weird.

[tribpot]

The rule I was taught at school was that either is correct but you must use whichever you pick consistently. NB it has nothing to do with the double s at the end, the same rule applies to James or Thomas.

[SueGeneris]

The rule I use at work (editor ) is dependent on whether the 's' in the word when spoken has an 's' or a 'z' sound. So it would be Jess's cat but Jess Jones' cat. Because 'Jessiz' sounds fine but if you added apostrophe s to Jones it would read 'Joneziz' ie the two 'z' sounds are a bit much together. I don't think the double s matters here.

I've no idea if that is standard use or not though and my copy of Fowler's is downstairs.

[SueGeneris]

[tribpot]

So would you say "Jones cat" (lack of apostrophe intentional), Sue? In other words you would pronounce it the same as "Jess. Jones. Cat."

I would say "Jonesiz" whether I had written Jones' or Jones's.

[SueGeneris]

Well. Looking at Fowler's what is in there does not agree with style rules I've been using.

I'd say 'Jonesiz'.

[dontrunwithscissors]

If it's a name that ends with s, you had an extra s after the apostrophe.

Eg Mrs Parks's car. Mr Jones's

All other words have just the apostrophe, eg The prisoners' food.

[CocktailQueen]

My New Hart's Rules says to use s's in names ending with an s, x or z sound: Charles's, James's, Marx's

but an apostrophe alone in names where an extra s would cause difficulty in pronunciation: Nicholas' or Nicholas's

No s after classical names ending in s or es - Euripides', Mars', Erasmus' (not sure how often you'd need those, though!)

hth?