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.

Either I think

But I'd go for jess's

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

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.

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.

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.

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

I'd say 'Jonesiz'.

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.

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?