Punctuation of house name signs

[meglet]

(I never venture in here so be gentle!).

There is a house near us with a snazzy new sign saying " The Brown's ". Obviously not their actual name but you get the idea.

Is their apostrophe in the right place? It bugs me every time we walk past.

I would think it should be " The Browns' " if their surname is Brown and there are more than one of them, ie they are trying to say this is the house belonging to the Browns.

If there is only one Brown and it is the house belonging to him/her, then you could say "The Brown's House" but it wouldn't really work without the last word.

I think.

::twitch::

Can you find a different route?

Ah, thanks. I knew it was wrong.

They've recently gutted and redecorated the whole house. You'd think they'd get the new sign right!

I think the sign is saying, in effect, that "We are the Browns" and so it should not have an apostrophe at all. It would just be a plural: "The Browns".

If, like KirstyJC says, they are trying to say this is the house belonging to the Browns, then it should be " The Browns' ". I think just the plural would make more sense though.

Hi, this is interesting. I’m single and my surname is Brown. I work from home and I have an amazing view, so I decided to call my house Brown’s View
Now I’m wondering if I got that right! 😂 I think I do.

Brown's view is correct.

I agree with @pandapens , no apostrophe needed for 'The Browns'