Brookses? Brooks's? Brooks'? The Brooks?

OK, I'll admit it. I GREW UP with this name Brooks, and I still don't know how to correctly pluralize or make it possesive. It seems that a lot of other people have stumbled on this too, so here, in the spirit of helpfulness, is the guide to Brooks style (obligatory suit and tie sold separately).

Plural: Just add -es.
Let's call the Brookses on their Vonage phone. It's very inexpensive and easy.

Singular Possessive: Just add an apostrophe -s.
This is Scruffy Brooks's Christmas list. His penmanship is quite poor.

Plural Possessive: Add -es, and then an apostrophe.
Let's go the Brookses' house. They love having visitors.


Need more explanation? Here's the information that I got from Capital Community College, a place I never heard of before Google took me there.

Plural: "When a family name ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z...we form the plural by added -es, as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes [the Brookses]. Do not form a family name plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms."

Singular Possessive: "By adding an apostrophe and an -s we can manage to transform most singular nouns into their possessive form [as in] the car's front seat, Charles's car, Bartkowski's book, a hard day's work [Matt Brooks's shoe]."

Plural Possessive: "When we want the possessive of a pluralized family name, we pluralize first and then simply make the name possessive with the use of an apostrophe. Thus, we might travel in the Smiths' car when we visit the Joneses (members of the Jones family) at the Joneses' [Brookses'] home."

So there you go. Now you have all the information you need to send some beef jerky and Cinnamon Altoids to the Brookses' mailbox. (hint, hint)