Williams’s or Williamses’?

The word Williams’s is the singular possessive. For example, “That is Williams’s house.” Also, the word Williamses is the standard plural version for referring to multiple individuals with the surname Williams. For instance, “There are three Williamses in our neighborhood.” Additionally, Williamses’ is the plural possessive.

Williams is a common surname in many English-speaking countries. Therefore, understanding the different forms is helpful because you will come across them regularly.

The following chart shows the different forms the surname Williams can take

Form	Example
Singular	Williams
Plural	Williamses
Singular Possessive	Williams’s
Plural possessives	Williamses’

Now, here are some sentences that show each form in context:

Singular: Mr. Williams’s office is on the third floor.

Plural: The Williamses in our family all have red hair.

Singular possessive: This is Mrs. Williams’s favorite restaurant.

Plural possessive: The Williamses’ dog is always barking loudly.

Furthermore, the plural possessive can indicate something owned by multiple individuals with the surname Williams. However, it can also refer to a family with the surname Williams, as in the above example.

We have explained the basics of using the possessive forms of the surname Williams. However, to ensure that you dont not make mistakes, continue reading the rest of the text, where we’ll give more examples for each form.

Williams’s

The word Williams’s is the singular possessive form of the surname Williams. Therefore, you should use it to indicate something belonging to one person or entity with the surname Williams. You can use this form to refer to physical items such as:

• Williams’s guitar is hanging on the wall.

In addition, you can use it to refer to non-physical things:

• This is Williams’s favorite time to study.

Williamses’

The word Williamses’ is the plural possessive version of the surname Williams. Consequently, you can use it to indicate something owned by two or more individuals with the surname Williams:

• Both Williamses’ houses were affected by the storm.

Although the above example is correct, using the plural possessive is uncommon to refer to things possessed by multiple individuals with the surname Williams. 

However, since Williams is a common surname, using it in a plural context to refer to different members of a Williams family is more common:

• The Williamses’ children are all talented musicians.

Williamses

The term Williamses is the standard plural version of the surname Williams. You should use it to refer to two or more individuals with the surname Williams, as long as the sentence is not possessive:

• There are several Williamses living on this street.

However, like the plural possessive, it is not common to use surnames in the plural sense. Consequently, people often phrase things a little differently. As shown in this example:

• There are several people with the surname Williams living on this street.”