Johns or Johns’ or John’s? (Helpful Examples)

Are you about to write about a person named John and his possessions? Or are you looking for the possessive form of another name and just thought that a search for “John” would give you a better answer?

Well, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we’ll cover the correct possessive of “John”, which you will be able to use on the majority of other names too.

Johns or Johns’ or John’s?

The possessive form of John is John’s, as in “that is John’s car”. Johns is the plural form of John, referring to multiple people named John, as in “there are two Johns in this class”. Finally, Johns’ is plural possessive, as in “that is the two Johns’ project”.

Singular	John
Plural	Johns
Singular possessive	John’s
Plural possessive	Johns’

It is very rare to come across the plural form of someone’s name. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to come across the plural possessive form.

It will most often be a mistake if you see the words Johns and Johns’ written. However, they are both grammatically correct.

John’s is the form you should almost always use. When you use this form, it shows that one John owns something specific to him.

John’s

John’s is the singular possessive form, showing an item that John owns. This is a very common form and one that you’ll almost always come across when writing about someone called John.

John’s comes before or after an object, depending on the context. In most written cases, it makes sense to place John’s before an owned object:

• I need John’s cane. Don’t ask me why, but I want to do something with it.
• I’m not sure about John’s dad. He doesn’t seem all that pleased to talk to me.

In other instances, the object might come before John’s. It’s less common, but it’s still correct.

• The house is John’s. I would ask him if you’re allowed to stay.

Johns

Johns is the plural form of John. It does not come with any possessive powers. You may only use it to show that more than one John is present within your context.

You won’t often need to pluralize someone’s name. This happens only when multiple people within the same group share a common name.

• I have informed all the Johns about this incident. I hope it resolves itself soon.
• They found three Johns, but that was as far as they got. I hope the others are okay.

Johns’

Johns’ is an even rarer form of John. It’s the plural possessive form, which shows multiple Johns own an item or object.

While Johns’ is correct, you’ll rarely use “Johns’” in any capacity. First of all, it is very rare to have multiple people with the same name, all in possession of the same thing. 

Secondly, when a group of people owns something, it is more common to refer to them as “them” or “the group” instead of by grouped up names.

Nevertheless, Johns’ is correct. You can treat John like any other regular noun in English, making it acceptable to write something like:

• The two Johns’ sticks broke.

We used “two” to show that “John” is in the plural form. Therefore, you can use Johns’ to allocate the “sticks” to both Johns, thus creating the plural possessive form.

Conclusion

John’s is the most common form. It is the singular possessive form, attributing an owned object to someone named John.

You will seldom come across Johns and Johns’. Nevertheless, both are grammatically correct. Johns is the plural form, and Johns’ is the plural possessive form.