DB Table Name Plural or Singular? How To Choose

A common question for web programmers is whether to give database table names singular or plural names.  Since the intuitive preference for one or the other is largely a religious debate, in this post I help you compare the two across many use cases you might not otherwise consider.  Then I let you decide which works better over the long haul.

Below I present a comprehensive list of use cases that will matter to you as you use your database tables.  For each case, I present a table showing examples of singular (left side) and plural (right side).

Case 1: Reserved SQL words

Everybody needs a table for user accounts, and the intuitive name for such a table is "user(s)".  But the singular form of user is a reserved word in SQL, so it must be escaped if it is used for a table name.

Singular	Plural
`user`or user_account	users

Case 2: Programming Language Symbols

The intuitive name for an array is often plural, which doesn't follow from a singular table name.

Singular	Plural
$notes = $db->query("SELECT * FROM note") foreach ($notes as $note) ...	$notes = $db->query("SELECT * FROM notes") foreach ($notes as $note) ...

Case 3: Irregular Plurals

Irregular plurals don't go well with systematic table naming.

Singular	Plural
address cactus user potato sheep story	addresses cacti or cactuses or cactuss users potatoes or potatos sheep or sheeps stories or storys

Case 4: Compound Table Names

Plural table names don't combine intuition and consistency well when forming compound names.

Singular	Plural
address note sheep user user_note user_address user_sheep	addresses notes sheep users users_notes or user_notes users_addresses or user_addresses users_sheep or user_sheep

Case 5: Derived Column Names

Singular	Plural
user_id create_user_id	users_id or user_id create_users_id or create_user_id

Case 6: Alphabetized Listings

Plural names and compound names don't alphabetize well together if you aren't totally consistent about using the plural.

Singular	Plural
user user_address user_note user_sheep user userAddress userNote userSheep	user_addresses (vs. users_addresses) user_notes user_sheep users userAddress (vs. usersAddresses) userNote users userSheep

I will resist the temptation to draw any conclusions.  For conclusions, I recommend the very-highly voted SECOND answer and its FOURTH comment (NOT the awarded answer) to this question at StackOverflow.