RE: Possessive form of name ending with apostrophe?

[Rebecca Officer <Rebecca -dot- Officer -at- alliedtelesis -dot- co -dot- nz>]

I think I'd put two apostrophes. It looks wrong, but, heck, anything you do in English to a name like that is either going to look wrong or be wrong. I'd vote for looking wrong instead of being wrong.

Cheers
Rebecca 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+rebecca -dot- officer=alliedtelesis -dot- co -dot- nz -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+rebecca -dot- officer=alliedtelesis -dot- co -dot- nz -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Jay L Gordon
Sent: Saturday, 7 March 2015 9:37 a.m.
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Cc: jdliguori
Subject: Re: Possessive form of name ending with apostrophe?

Folks, before the original question gets lost, below are some names that *actually do* end in an apostrophe, and they are all names of students *at my university* (not some far-flung, made-up place). And the original question was: how do you show the possessive for these names (aside from rewriting them). I know thereâs no absolute rule for this or anything else, but what would people suggest? I do think the one suggestion (simply add an âsâ) makes sense, but of course thatâs not consistent with possessive apostrophe rules.

In part I just thought this was an interesting question. To disbelieve such names exist is ok, I guess, but they do exist. My guess is that perhaps they are supposed to be *spoken* with an accented vowel at the end (notice they all end in a vowel, mostly âeâ), but they are written with an apostrophe (which is what may well be on the studentsâ birth certificates).

Achanteâ
Alontaâ
Chaiâ
DaVaunteâ
DeOnteâ
KeâAndreâ
La Chilleâ
RouxJeâ
Shardeâ
Steffonteâ
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