Associative plurals

[Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen]

>We had  this in rural Michigan also at least when I was growing up:

-n them worked for given names only though; family names used  to 
have the /s/ suffix.

For what it's worth, I  remember my mother writing a list of people 
who would attend a family gathering, and all the families coming were 
listed by first name  but with a possessive suffix: Kurt's and Kent's 
would be there.  After that, I think I didn't hear  that suffix as 
plural any longer.

I also have heard this in Mexican and Puerto Rican Spanish:  Los 
Martinez, for example.




Sheri