Plural surname

Hi, Bews’, James’ Smiths’…
The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar
possessive (n. & adj.) (A word or case) indicating possession or ownership.
The possessive case of nouns is also called the
GENITIVE
case, e.g. boy's, boys', Mary's, the Smiths'.

Pronouns in the possessive case are the series mine, yours, etc.; the corresponding determiners are my, your, etc.

Neither, it would be Bewes.

I disagree with both of the previous responses. The question is about plurals, not possessives, so I don't think you would use an apostrophe. The second answer, Bewes, is probably just a typo -- I think what you're looking for is Bewses. (I've never heard of this name, by the way. But adding "es" works for Jones/Joneses.) Or you could

It amuses the Bewses to abuse the Muses.

A related question:

Should it be "The Bews family" or "The Bews' family"?
Is either of the above equivalent to "The Bewses"?

Thanks.

Ricky

If you are just identifying the family, it would be "the Bews family" rather than "the Bews' family," because you are saying which family, not whose family. "The Bewses" would also be fine. You could say "I went to visit the Bews family" or "I went to visit the Bewses"

The plural of Bews is Bewses, as Joneses is the plural of Jones, as in "keeping up with the Joneses". There is one Bob Bews in this town. There are two Bob Bewses in this town.

Bew's means that one Bew possesses something, as in Bob Bew's hat is in the ring, i.e., the hat of Bob Bew is in the ring.

Bewses means that more than one Bews possesses something, e.g., those are the Be

Either is acceptable.

Anonymous
Either is acceptable.

Could you give a bit more explanation about what you mean here, Anon?

0Do you believe the same pattern is true for the surname Jacobs? Is the plural Jacobses or Jacobss (the double ss for a plural spelling popped up when I Googled it).0-