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The manēs or dī manēs, the benevolent spirits of the underworld, are usually addressed as a collective.
But what if I want to talk about one specific benevolent spirit? Is the singular (*manis perhaps?) ever used? Can the plural be used with a singular meaning? Or do I need to find some circumlocution?
Judging by the entry in Lewis and Short, the plural is also used to refer to a single entity. Section I.B mentions examples like manes Anchisae/conjugis/Virginiae/Galbae.
The same section also mentions a singular use without any comment: nomine Manem deum nuncupant. Judging by a quick corpus search this is a hapax legomenon; the other hit appears to be a Plautine form of manere. Therefore my suggestion is to go with the plural.
I don't know if the implication is that a single dead person has several spirits. If you want an emphatic singular, perhaps unus manium is an option.
Appius has the singular attested:
In sing.: “nomine Manem deum nuncupant,” App. de Deo Socr. 15, p. 50, 19.
He's a bit late, but I suppose this proves it's possible. Running a PHI search "manem ~ deum" shows nothing else.
