Singular or Plural Models? What about multiple words?

Let's talk about singular vs plural in Eloquent Model.

Typically, the Model name should be singular in the make:model artisan command, like make:model Post instead of Posts. This means Laravel will try to figure out what database table to work with. The table name would be pluralized from the Model name.

If you create a Model Project with the Migration, Laravel will name the table projects.

This is a typical behavior and best practice but not a rule. If you generate Projects instead of a Project, it would work. But I don't advise and recommend such an approach. However, it is not a strict rule.

Also, let's look at the singular and plural in multiple words. For example, you have a projects table and you want to create a project type Model. But should it be ProjectType or ProjectsType? Let's generate a Model with Migration and Controller and see the names.

We have a ProjectType Model, a project_types table, and a ProjectTypeController. So, it doesn't change anything in the Controller name but adds a pluralized form in the table name.

If you have multiple words in the Camel Case, then in the snake_case form, the second word becomes plural. Again, you can overwrite it and use, for example, projects_types for the table name.

I'm not too fond of this approach and try to stick with the so-called Laravel naming and best practices.

But, finally, if your table name is entirely different from the Model name, you can always override the conventions and provide the table name in the Model.

class Role extends Model
{
    protected $table = 'user_roles';
}