Two characters talking. One named Chris. Other character mentions off-hand he went to school with more than one Chris. But what would be plural for Chris? No, the character doesn’t go by Christopher. That would be easy, but would create problems later (just nod and smile and believe me).
Chrises or Chris' or Chris's. I'd probably go with the last one because it seems more clear than the other two. They all sound pretty awkward. Actually they would sound fine in speech, but in writing they're awkward.
That's a very good question, as we're inclined to say when we haven't a clue what's the answer. Let the audience decide, I suggest, as in: "Yeah, I went to school with a bunch of Chris...Chrisss,,,,Chrisseses,,,hey, you know what the plural for Chris is?" "What you talking 'bout?" "The plural of Chris. Like more than one." "Hmm...Chrises?" "Crises?" "Not that bad. How about Christos?" "Amen, brother."
I suspect that it's the sort of thing it's better to avoid than to find a definitive answer. I think I have used the apostrophied version in similar situations, but it would probably be clearer if you could write "loads of guys at my school were called Chris" than "I was at school with loads of Chris's"
Chris’s sounds like a possessive rather than a plural “don’t drink that beer it’s Chris’s, there’s lots of chrises here but don’t upset big Chris or it’ll be a crisis.” I generally agree with hammer that it’s best avoided “there’s lots of guys called Chris here”
Chrises. Plurals of proper names can be a little weird. For example, it would be Tonys, not Tonies. Basically, just add an -S or an -ES. You'd use apostrophe-S if you were talking about "Chris" as a word instead of Chris as a person. e.g., "There are two Chris's in that last sentence."
This is what I love about this place. We dick around debating whether or not there's a god, and Crowns chips in with his phone number...
There should be no apostrophe on a word like Chris unless you're forming the possessive or forming a contraction. The general rule in English with words ending in 's' is to add 'es' in the plural, and I think that should be used here. bus => buses kiss => kisses Chris => Chrises
That's if you're going to follow the exact letter of the law and miss the spirit of the law. Chrises is a very awkward construction. As creative writers we're not bound to any hard rules—we should understand them, but can bend them when necessary or when it suits the style of the story. But I agree with what was said above, I would simply rewrite to avoid the problem.
That is true. If the construction is deemed awkward, then the apostrophe plural appears. It's very rare but it does happen. It would be decided by the editor using the publisher's house style guide.
The awkwardness of Chrises doesn't negate the fact that Chris's has a completely different meaning and will be read as such by anyone who knows how apostrophes are used.
