Redwood & Vine Design Co.
Florida wedding invitation designer
Christmas is just around the corner…you’re booking the family photo session, you’re coordinating the outfits, you’re choosing the perfect holiday card. And then when it comes time to sign your Christmas card, you hesitate. I totally get it. I have an awkward 10-letter surname ending in a flurry of consonants, so even as a design industry veteran, I sometimes find myself pausing when pluralizing it in a signature. Read on to avoid the grammar Grinch and make sure you get it right, every time.
The #1 Rule
If you take one thing away from this guide, let it be this: never use an apostrophe to make your last name plural. Apostrophes show possession, not plurality. So “The Smith’s” technically means “belonging to the Smith,” and that’s definitely not what we’re going for on a holiday card.
We’re not implying possession here, we’re just looking for the plural form. So, you’d pluralize your name just like you would any other noun — raisins, trees, houses, you get the drift.
For names that end in s, x, z, ch, or sh
Add an -es. The Joneses, the Harrises, the Hendrixes, the Gomezes, the Jameses, the Aldriches, the Walshes. And for my family, the Juckiewiczes (which I personally don’t love…we’ll come back to that later).
For names that end in any other letter
Add -s. The Millers, the Rossis, the Garcias, the Murphys. Resist, resist the urge to throw an apostrophe in there.
For tricky names or blended families
Think your name looks awkward when pluralized, like I do? Use “the Name family” instead…so, the Harris family, the James family, the Marini family. We always use the Juckiewicz family; it just looks right.
If not everyone in your family has the same surname, try one of these options:
- Hyphenated and pluralized: the Jameson-Bells
- Hyphenated without pluralizing: The Miller-Harris family
- Individual names: Emily, Jake, Bella, Sydney, and Finn
- Keep it simple: From our family to yours
Keep it Consistent
Once you’ve chosen the perfect signature, you can use the same naming convention on your return address labels or stamps, gift tags, and anywhere else you’d use a family signature.
And keep the same tips in mind when building your recipient list, too!
We have hundreds of Christmas card styles to accommodate any name — or names! Browse some of our favorite picks here:
Kristen Juckiewicz
Stationery designer, boy mom, beach dweller. Curating life's special moments since 2015.
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