What is our collective name?

[Hixxy1]

Surname is Baines and we did a quiz recently where our team name had to be our surname. But we couldnt Work out who we were!

Are we;

a) The Baines'
b) The Baines's
c) The Baineses

I think the Baineses.

I know it looks like a lot of 'e's but I don't think the versions with apostrophes are correct.

It suppose would probably be spelled and pronounced equivalently to the Joneses. Keeping up with the Baineses.

I used to be 'Davis' and had the same issue. In the end I went with Davis' as the 's' ending had more of a zzz sound (not a hard 's' like Davies) and Davises (pr Davizes) just looked and sounded wrong!

It's a pickle isn't it?! 😬

I'm glad it's not just me who finds it ambiguous!

If your pluralizing rather than denoting possession you can't have an apostrophe. It would be the muggles. Not the muggle's. It would be the baineses.