Hades- a pedantic question.

[gingot]

Say you knew someone who had called their child Hades.

If you were talking about a possession of Hades, eg. his coat, would it be;

1. Hades' coat (Hay-dees-es) coat
2. Hadeses coat (hay-dees-es) coat
3. Hades coat (Hay-dees)

Or another option?

" Hades' " would be a plural possessive, meaning the coat that belonged to multiple Hadeses.

I don't think so. Hades is singular. So the plural possessive would be Hadeses'. Surely. However, that does depend on the plural of Hades being Hadieses. It being Greek we have the octopodes/octopi/octopuses issue! And I don't know the Greek plural with an -es ending.

I was taught (in the 1960s) that you just add (apostrophe s) in exactly the same way as you would if the name didn’t end in s - so:

Peter’s
Hades’s

Simple and logical.

OP, if you're the poster who had a relative going to call their kid Hades, I can't believe they actually went ahead. But that's better then you not being there poster, because then there's another poor child with h to is name.

Of course you could be someone else posting about the same baby!

I second that, don't call your child Hell

But THE most annoying thing is how often people miss off the 's altogether even when the name doesn't end in s, eg Apollo coat, Athena coat. Grrrr!

Hades's coat.

Hades doesn't have a coat. It's hot down there.

That made me chuckle 🙂

Weather in hades…

hades, Indonesia.

Hades is also a historical figure in classical mythology.

This was the example my English teacher used! I went to school a few tube stops away. The stadium where Newcastle United play, by the same name, and the Metro stop next to it only use the apostrophe, no second "s". In fact, the tile work in the platform walls just says "St James".

Bridget Jones's Diary was the example used in my Civil Service Plain English course a couple of decades later.

I know English is a funny language, and can be a completely illogical mash up at times, but I genuinely don't think that Amos' dog or Amos's dog really matters.

It's Hades's coat. Hades is singular that ends in an S. The possessive of a singular noun is 's.

Imagine if it was Liz's coat. If she was an Elisabeth, it would be Lis's coat. Why would you drop the possessive s just because the name ends in a s?

Obviously don't call your child Hades...

Why?
Because it's acceptable to use Hades' or Hades's. Your example doesn't work because z isn't the same as S.

The coat that belongs to Hades is:
Hades' coat (Hay-dees-es) coat or
Hades's coat (hay-dees-es) coat

Both are acceptable.

Hadeses coat and Hades coat are incorrect.

My name ends with an S, and I always write James's (not my name!). James' looks wrong and I cringe when people write that. I always add the apostrophe and second S 😳

The worst is when people (yes, it's happened more than once!) write Jame's. Noooooooo!!

Hades' coat (Hay-dees coat) and Hades's coat (Hay-dees-es coat) are both correct. It's a matter of preference.

You would never pronounce Hades' coat as Hay-dees-es coat because that's not what it says.

Wow God of the underworld’s coat!

I also have an s ending name and always write James' - it was how I was taught, infact I was the example used at school. Sorry to make you cringe, although not sure what is cringey about using an apostrophe in the correct place.

My son has a name that ends in s, something similar to Thomas, and I write Thomas' and say Thomases. I think the punctuation is a matter of preference but I'd say the pronunciation has to be like that or it's not right.

If I was reading out "Charles Dickens' second novel," for example, I absolutely would say Dickenses. Would you not? Otherwise it sounds like his name is Charles Dickon.

It's Hades' coat. End of.