There are three Katys in the class

[DandelionDahlia]

Would anyone be able to tell me if this is grammatically correct?

Or should it be "three Katies"?

They all spell their name Katy.

I think "three Katys" looks fine and makes it very clear that all spell their name "Katy".

What would you do if the name didn't end in Y or S? Do that.

There are several Katys, a couple of Katies and some Chrises in the class.

No. Jesus isn't a latin word so doesn't pluralise with an i - like octopuses.

Im so intrigued as to what age group and area has a class of 3 Katys (all spelled the same way) in 2024. OP are you writing a novel set in the 1980s and 90s?

If there were three girls named Mary there wouldn’t be three Marie’s.

Hard agree. This suggestion made me shudder. You never need an apostrophe with plural names unless it is posessive - even surnames despite popular belief.

This is a fair point.

There WERE three Katys in the class, back in the day (c1988)

A lovely name. Katie also nice.

Yes, @stclair

Best explanation ever. This has removed all shadows of doubt 😄

What would the purpose of the apostrophe be?

Katie is not the plural version of Katy. It’s a different name.

three Katys

What about if there were 3 James?

Jameses? Then I’d be pronouncing it like the pharaoh Ramesses but with a J.

The PP's suggestion to add an apostrophe was clearly tongue-in-cheek! That's why she put a winky face with it 🤦🏻‍♀️

no-one has suggested three ‘Katy’s

Would that work?

I’m worrying about ‘Cris’, too. More than one and you end up with Crises.

Oh lol I'm a dick

I'm hoping never to marry anyone with the surname 'Newman' as I couldn't handle people calling us the Newmen. 🙃

I refer you to the famous children's book of my childhood 'What Katy Did Next' - no one thought it was pronounced catty. Simply an alternative spelling like Kirstie or Kirsty

I grew up in a short street opposite the Newman family who were two doors down from the Newhams

There is a similar problem when referring to more than one Batman or Superman.

The three Batmen posed for a photograph.
The three Batmans posed for a photograph.

Proper nouns add an s (es where it ends in sibilance sound). "I know three Felixes and two Bettys." First names no difference to surnames. Such as "the Browns" or "the Marches".

I guess it depends if they're a man who's a bat or a person called Batman.
Three Batmans posed...
Three batmen posed....

Am I overthinking .........

I’m with you on that one!

'What Katy Did', 'What Katy Did At School' and 'What Katy Did Next' amounts to three Katys, I suppose, but it was only one Katy, after all.

I loved reading those when I was young. Thank you for the reminder.

The obvious thing would be to reword. There were 3 children named Katy in the class ...