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I have been checking on which of these is grammatically correct. Should we use "90s kids" or "90's kids" or "90s' kids" or "'90s kids"? I checked on many forums and platforms like Reddit, Oxford, and many others. People discuss 90s kids and 90's kids and '90s kids, but no one talks about 90s' kids which I think is most appropriate as we use s' for plurals. Here is my research:

Oxford Dictionaries: How To Use An Apostrophe (’).

Reddit: 90s vs 90's. Which one is correct? (August 2015).

Some even say that it should be written '90s as we are omitting 19 from 1990. So what do you all think?

V2Blast
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Pranjal Singhal
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2 Answers2

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Technically, the first (leading) apostrophe is for omission (of "19" in "1990"),

1990 → '90 omission

90 → 90s plural → 90s' possessive, plural

→ '90s'

and the second (trailing) apostrophe is for plural possession, ending up in "'90s' (kids)."

But oh, bother! I'd think "90s kids" eminently serves the purpose without ambiguity.

Kris
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If you're writing the number out, it would be Nineties' kids, so 90s' would be the appropriate numerical format.

Having said that, the 90s" is a contraction for the 1990s, so it seems to me that '90s' would be technically correct – although it really doesn't look good, so I'd stick with 90s'.

V2Blast
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therightstuff
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    Yes. That is what I am wondering about. The correct one should be '90s', but that will look really weird. – Pranjal Singhal Mar 19 '19 at 10:29
  • In writing out, the Nineties has a distinct meaning, so doesn't need a leading apostrophe. That doesn't compare with using figures. – Kris Mar 19 '19 at 10:45
  • @Kris that's precisely what I was saying :) – therightstuff Mar 21 '19 at 13:48
  • Not convinced by "Nineties' kids" - you would say "Jazz Age kids" or "Colonial era housing" or "2 o'clock train" without a possessive (although you might say "Wednesday's child"). – Stuart F Mar 26 '22 at 01:37