How to pluralize a last name like Thomas [duplicate]

Solution 1:

The identical question was asked on this forum 12 years ago, right down to the name used:

Thomases. An apostrophe denotes ownership or a contraction.

Examples of correct uses:

I'm visiting the Thomases. That is Thomas' chair. That's the Thomases' dog. The construction "Thomas's" is wrong.

"Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to make plurals." (http://www.spotlight-online.de/CoCoCMS/generator/viewDocument.php?doc=4279) "Apostrophes are NOT used for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals." (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html)

from the MLA handbook, 5th ed.:

To form the possessive of a plural proper noun, add only an apostrophe.

[examples:] the Vanderbilts' estate the Dickenses' economic woes

last linky (http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/plurals.htm)

When a family name (a proper noun) is pluralized, we almost always simply add an "s." So we go to visit the Smiths, the Kennedys, the Grays, etc.When a family name ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z, however, we form the plural by added -es, as in the Marches, the Joneses, the Maddoxes, the Bushes, the Rodriguezes. Do not form a family name plural by using an apostrophe; that device is reserved for creating possessive forms.

Solution 2:

You are writing to the Thomas family (or family Thomas, to be a little jazzy) or to the individual or multiple Thomases who comprise the family. Most surnames form the plural using the same rules as for other nouns.