Dutch name
Encyclopedia
Dutch
names consist of one or more given name
s and a surname
. The given name, as in English
, is usually gender-specific.
s. Usually, one of them is meant to be for daily use. This is often underlined on official documents, as the name for daily use may be the second or third Christian
name or a totally different name not even related to the Christian name
s. Traditionally, Catholics often chose Latin
names for their children, such as Catarina and Wilhelmus, while Protestants more commonly chose simple Dutch names, such as Trijntje and Willem. In both cases, names were often shortened for everyday use (Wilhelmus and Willem became Wim). Nearly half of Dutch children today receive one name, over 30% are given two names, 17% have three names, 2.5% get four names and only very few children have five or more given names.
naming legislation practically allows all given names unless they are too similar to an existing surname, or if the name is inappropriate. A limit to the number of given names is unknown to the Dutch law
, so in theory one could give a child an endless series of names. In the Netherlands
however, five is usually the limit.
in the Dutch speaking area; they form the oldest layer of the given names known in Dutch. The Germanic names were characterised by a rich diversity, as there were many possible combinations.
A Germanic
name is composed of two parts. One part indicates the gender of the name, the other a characteristic of the person. This way names like Adelbert or Albert are born, composed of "adel" (meaning "noble") and "bert" which is derived from "beracht" (meaning "bright" or "shining") hence the name means something in the order of "Bright/Shining through noble behaviour"; the English
name "Albright", now only seen as a surname, is a cognate with the same origin.
Combining these "parts" was used when the child was named after family or other relatives. For example the child would receive two parts from different family members, in this way a father named "Hildebrant" and a mother called "Gertrud" would call their son "Gerbrant" and their daughter "Hiltrud".
names derived from Christian Saints became more common than Germanic ones. From the 12th century onwards it became custom for the child to receive a Christian name, although some names of Germanic origin like "Gertrude
" and "Hubertus
" remained prevalent.
The direct influence of the church on the transition from Germanic to Christian names must not be overestimated. Before the council of Trent
(1545–1563), the Roman Catholic church
did not have any regulation of the practice of naming children.
There are thought to have been a number of reasons the Christian names gained the upper hand, such as the crusades
, the larger ecclesiastical influence and the appearance of mendicant orders
(such as the Franciscans and Dominicans
) and most importantly, the veneration
of saints and the appearance of patron saint
s.
Besides religious influence it is believed that fashion
was the main reason to give children a Christian name. With larger cities starting to flourish all across the Low Countries, wealthy citizens in particular became trend-setters in this regard.
In these times typical Dutch names such as "Kees" (Cornelis), "Jan" (Johannes
) and "Piet" (Petrus
) emerged.
, the child would probably be called after "Sint Joris" (the Dutch name for "Saint George
"), the patron saint
of the butchers.
The Dutch habit of naming newborns after another family member originates with an at that time widespread superstition
that the name in some way contributed to some form of reincarnation
of the person the child was named after, who was usually much older. This superstition disappears after some time, even though a certain Le Francq van Berkeij writes the following in 1776: "bij veelen, een oud, overgeloovig denkbeeld, dat iemand weldra sterft, wanneer hij, gelijk men zegt, vernoemd is." (many have a superstitious belief that a person will soon die when someone, as they say, has been named after him.)
As the centuries passed, this practice became so standard that the names of the children were practically known at the marriage of the future parents. The rules for naming were the following:
, domestically he was called Johan, Jan or Hans.
After the war, the Dutch people became less religious; today the majority
of the Dutch are non-practising Christians or atheists. Thus the Christian name and given name started to diverge, as personal names of foreign origin were adopted. In some cases these names are written more or less phonetically, for example Sjon (English
John), Sjaak (French
Jacques) and Petrik ( English
Patrick).
Today traditional official names are found, but often only as an addition to the modern name. Boys are more often given a traditional Dutch name than girls. Boys are also more commonly named after a family member while girls are simply named for the sound of the name.
Many Dutch
names start with a prefix like van ("of/from"), de/het/' t ("the"), der ("of the"), van de ("of the/from the"), and in het ("in the"). Examples are ' t Hooft ("the head"), de Wolff ("the wolf") , van Rijn ("from Rhine"); but some verb-derived names that end in -en that often indicate occupations, like van Bruggen ("from Bruggen") for someone, or his family, coming from the city of Bruges (Dutch: "Brugge") in Belgium.
In the Netherlands, these prefixes are not spelled with a capital when used in combination with the first name or initial, for example Piet de Wolff or R. van Rijn. In all other cases a capital letter must be used, for example, de heer Van Kampen, or when preceded by an academic title as in dr. Van Wijk.
In Belgium, this capitalization practice is not followed; prefixes in most common Dutch names are always capitalized, though occasionally 'Van de' occurs whereas another family may have the otherwise identical name spelled as 'Van De'. Also, prepositions can be merged with the surname (such as Vandecasteele), or can be separate (Van De Casteele), and a few combinations occur (Vande Casteele). These variations indicate different families and not all names exist with several spellings. (More on this under Tussenvoegsels.)
When van is followed by the name of a place or area, this may (but usually does not) indicate that a person belongs to the nobility
or royalty
such as van Tuyll
van Serooskerken. This usage exists also in Flemish names, though its nobility usually obtained the French
prefix 'de'. In Dutch aristocratic names, the prefix is never capitalized. This results in people being very strict about whether the prefix in someone's name should be capitalized or not, and in emigrants from the Netherlands always having an uncapitalized prefix.
Van can also indicate that a person is from a certain farm. The ancestors of the Dutch soprano Elma van Den Dool lived on a farm called Den Dool. The first letter of Den gets capitalised (she is from Den Dool).
In name directories in the Netherlands, the prefixes are always ignored for sorting (e.g. Van Rijn is ordered under 'R'). A Dutch surname may often contain an article and/or a preposition, preceding the noun. Sometimes these have been merged with the name. Many Dutch surnames originated from different personal qualities, geographical locations, and occupations. However, Dutch names in English directories (e.g. reference lists of scientific papers) may be ordered on the full name including all prefixes (Van Rijn would be ordered under 'V'), partly because many Dutch emigrant families to English-speaking countries have had their prefixes capitalized for them, whether they liked it or not, like Martin Van Buren
or Steve Van Dyck
, and normal practise in English is to order on the first capitalized element.
In Belgium, all prefixes are always included for sorting.
However, this did not become her legal name. Her legal name did not change at all. Passports, and other official documents, continued to name her Anna Pietersen, even though there might have been "spouse of Jan Jansen" added.
The current law in the Netherlands gives people more freedom: upon marriage, both partners default to keeping their own surnames, but both are given the choice of using their partner's surname, or a combination of the two. For example, if a person called Jansen marries someone called Smit, each partner has the choice to call himself or herself Jansen, Smit, Jansen-Smit or Smit-Jansen. The preferred option will be registered with the municipal registration, without giving up the right to use one's original name, which remains the legal name.
However, in practice, the standard procedure is that when a woman marries, she either keeps her maiden name or has a double surname, for example, Miss Jansen marries Mr Smit she either chooses to become Mrs Jansen or Mrs Smit-Jansen. It is not common to only take the partner's surname.
This can cause problems for foreign national females living in the country, as you are required to present your birth certificate and passport as proof of identification, for instance. If you have changed your surname upon marriage, then you are advised that in municipal records your surname as it appears on your birth certificate takes precedence.
Also, in day-to-day life and banking, a woman's maiden name is given preferential status.
Parents can choose to give their children either their father's or mother's family name, as long as the parents are married or are living together and the father has acknowledged the child. The surname of younger siblings must be the same as the surname of the oldest child.
s. Children even with established last names would also use a patronymic and often therefore received no middle names. The patronymic was based on one's father's name. The oldest form used the possessive of the fathers name along with the word for son or daughter. Examples would be a boy born to Jan being named Pieter Jans zoon while his daughter might be named Geertje Jans dochter. These forms were also commonly shortened, to Janszn. and Jansdr., or to Jansse, and finally to Jans which could be used for both male or female children. These patronymic names were official and even used on legal documents where inheritances can be seen to pass from father to son with different "last names".
After 1811, many patronymics became permanent surnames such that Peeters, Jansen, Willems are common surnames today.
The most common Dutch surnames in the Netherlands (as of 1947) and Flanders
in Belgium
are listed to the right. Meertens' Dutch surname database lists 94143 different family names, the total Dutch speaking population
in Europe is estimated to be about 23 million people. The most common Dutch names in Belgium are nearly all Patrynomic"father-based" names in which they are composed with the following formula name of father + "-son", the only exceptions being "De Smet" (the Smith) and - to a certain extent, because it is also a patronymic ("Thomas") - "Maes" (Meuse
). The most common Dutch names in the Netherlands are more diverse, with names ranging from "Visser" (fisherman
) to "Van Dijk" ((living along) the dike) and "De Jong" (the young (one)). It should be remembered however that these figures are based on the data of an entire country, and on a smaller scale other names tend to dominate certain region
s.
, many names use certain qualifying words (prepositions) positioned between a person's given name
and their surname
. Although these words, tussenvoegsel
s, are not strictly essential to state the person's surname, they are nevertheless a part of the surname and are almost always included for clarity.
In the Netherlands, for example, someone whose family name is "De Vries" is not found at the letter "D" in the telephone directory
but at "V;" the "de" is a tussenvoegsel
and is not a part of the indexing process but rather is more of a stylistic qualifier. The major reason for this methodology is that it makes finding someone's name in a database
relatively easy, since most Dutch prepositions start with the same letter
(and thus if the prepositions led, there would be constant superfluous data entry to arrive at the desired name). But when referencing to this type of Dutch names in English scientific papers, authors will always use the full name "De Vries". It is clear this creates often some confusion.
This system used in the Netherlands is not applicable to foreign names, although some libraries in the Netherlands as well as all official institutions in the Netherlands do. The flemish name "Van der Velde" for instance, or the German name "Von Beethoven" may never be changed in directories. Citizens or authors have to insist for this 'derogation'. In general, 'splitting' the surname is used only in the Netherlands for Dutch names composed of a preposition preceding the main word.
The above technique is not used in Flanders, where surnames are always kept to their full length, including the prepositions. In a telephone directory the name "De Vries" can be found only at the "D". This system is used throughout Belgium (and Flanders) and is consistent with the international way of listing surnames.
In the Netherlands, the tussenvoegsel is written with a capital letter if no name or initial precedes it. For example:
See also the main Dutch surnames section.
In Flanders
tussenvoegsels of personal names always keep their original orthography
: mevrouw van der Velde, mevrouw J. van der Velde, and Jan Van den Broeke.
Some Dutch tussenvoegsel
s (many of these words are inflected, and therefore often are not totally accurate) include:
And combinations:
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
names consist of one or more given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
s and a surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
. The given name, as in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, is usually gender-specific.
Dutch given names
The given name is given to a child by the parents shortly after, or before, birth. It is common to give a child several given names, particularly among CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
s. Usually, one of them is meant to be for daily use. This is often underlined on official documents, as the name for daily use may be the second or third Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
name or a totally different name not even related to the Christian name
Name
A name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...
s. Traditionally, Catholics often chose Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
names for their children, such as Catarina and Wilhelmus, while Protestants more commonly chose simple Dutch names, such as Trijntje and Willem. In both cases, names were often shortened for everyday use (Wilhelmus and Willem became Wim). Nearly half of Dutch children today receive one name, over 30% are given two names, 17% have three names, 2.5% get four names and only very few children have five or more given names.
Dutch (Netherlands) naming law (given names)
The DutchDutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
naming legislation practically allows all given names unless they are too similar to an existing surname, or if the name is inappropriate. A limit to the number of given names is unknown to the Dutch law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, so in theory one could give a child an endless series of names. In the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
however, five is usually the limit.
History of Dutch given names
The history of Dutch given names can roughly be divided in four main periods:- The domination of Germanic names. (Migration PeriodMigration PeriodThe Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
and before until the high middle agesHigh Middle AgesThe High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
) - The high middle ages, when Germanic-based personal names were losing ground to non-native holy names. (High middle ages until the Early Modern era)
- A period of stability, when a very strong naming habit emerged. (Early Modern era–1945)
- The post-World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
period, characterised by previously unknown personal names. (1945–Present)
Germanic period
The Germanic names are the names with the longest historyHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in the Dutch speaking area; they form the oldest layer of the given names known in Dutch. The Germanic names were characterised by a rich diversity, as there were many possible combinations.
A Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
name is composed of two parts. One part indicates the gender of the name, the other a characteristic of the person. This way names like Adelbert or Albert are born, composed of "adel" (meaning "noble") and "bert" which is derived from "beracht" (meaning "bright" or "shining") hence the name means something in the order of "Bright/Shining through noble behaviour"; the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
name "Albright", now only seen as a surname, is a cognate with the same origin.
Combining these "parts" was used when the child was named after family or other relatives. For example the child would receive two parts from different family members, in this way a father named "Hildebrant" and a mother called "Gertrud" would call their son "Gerbrant" and their daughter "Hiltrud".
Medieval names
Through the course of the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
names derived from Christian Saints became more common than Germanic ones. From the 12th century onwards it became custom for the child to receive a Christian name, although some names of Germanic origin like "Gertrude
Gertrude of Nivelles
Saint Gertrude of Nivelles was abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles, in present-day Belgium.She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen and Saint Itta, and a younger sister of Saint Begga, Abbess of Andenne, Saint Bavo and Grimoald I.One day, when she was about ten years of age, her father...
" and "Hubertus
Hubertus
Saint Hubertus or Hubert , called the "Apostle of the Ardennes" was the first Bishop of Liège...
" remained prevalent.
The direct influence of the church on the transition from Germanic to Christian names must not be overestimated. Before the council of Trent
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was the 16th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important councils. It convened in Trent between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods...
(1545–1563), the Roman Catholic church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
did not have any regulation of the practice of naming children.
There are thought to have been a number of reasons the Christian names gained the upper hand, such as the crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, the larger ecclesiastical influence and the appearance of mendicant orders
Mendicant Orders
The mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle, they do not own property, either individually or collectively , believing that this was the most pure way of life to copy followed by Jesus Christ, in order that all...
(such as the Franciscans and Dominicans
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
) and most importantly, the veneration
Veneration
Veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: an angel, or a dead person who has been identified by a church committee as singular in the traditions of the religion. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic, and Eastern Catholic Churches...
of saints and the appearance of patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
s.
Besides religious influence it is believed that fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
was the main reason to give children a Christian name. With larger cities starting to flourish all across the Low Countries, wealthy citizens in particular became trend-setters in this regard.
In these times typical Dutch names such as "Kees" (Cornelis), "Jan" (Johannes
Johannes
Johannes is the Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek name Ιωάννης , itself derived from the Hebrew name Yehochanan meaning "Yahweh is gracious". The name became popular in Northern Europe, especially in Germany...
) and "Piet" (Petrus
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
) emerged.
Stability
When the conversion was made from Germanic to Christian names, most parents just picked a name they liked best or would be most helpful in their child's later life, for example if the child would come from a butcher's family and he himself would one day become a butcherButcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
, the child would probably be called after "Sint Joris" (the Dutch name for "Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
"), the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of the butchers.
The Dutch habit of naming newborns after another family member originates with an at that time widespread superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
that the name in some way contributed to some form of reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
of the person the child was named after, who was usually much older. This superstition disappears after some time, even though a certain Le Francq van Berkeij writes the following in 1776: "bij veelen, een oud, overgeloovig denkbeeld, dat iemand weldra sterft, wanneer hij, gelijk men zegt, vernoemd is." (many have a superstitious belief that a person will soon die when someone, as they say, has been named after him.)
As the centuries passed, this practice became so standard that the names of the children were practically known at the marriage of the future parents. The rules for naming were the following:
- The first son was named after the father's father (the child's paternal grandfather) / The first daughter was named after the mother's mother (the child's maternal grandmother).
- The second child's name depended on the fact whether the first-born child was a boy or a girl. If the first-born child had been a boy, the second child would be named after its mother's family, and after its father's family if the first born had been a girl.
- The third and fourth-born children would usually be named after the grandparents who did not yet have a grandchild named after them.
- If the grandparents already had grandchildren named after them, the children would be named after their uncles and aunts, starting at the father's family.
- If a child died, the next-born child would receive the same name.
Post-War period (1945+)
Traditionally there was little difference between the Christian name (doopnaam) and the name used in domestic spheres (roepnaam). If someone's Christian name was JohannesJohannes
Johannes is the Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek name Ιωάννης , itself derived from the Hebrew name Yehochanan meaning "Yahweh is gracious". The name became popular in Northern Europe, especially in Germany...
, domestically he was called Johan, Jan or Hans.
After the war, the Dutch people became less religious; today the majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
of the Dutch are non-practising Christians or atheists. Thus the Christian name and given name started to diverge, as personal names of foreign origin were adopted. In some cases these names are written more or less phonetically, for example Sjon (English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
John), Sjaak (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Jacques) and Petrik ( English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Patrick).
Today traditional official names are found, but often only as an addition to the modern name. Boys are more often given a traditional Dutch name than girls. Boys are also more commonly named after a family member while girls are simply named for the sound of the name.
Surnames
There are a great variety of Dutch surnames (over 100,000), due to their recent introduction (a forced registration of surnames) in 1811, hence there have been few generations in which names could become extinct.Many Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
names start with a prefix like van ("of/from"), de/het/
In the Netherlands, these prefixes are not spelled with a capital when used in combination with the first name or initial, for example Piet de Wolff or R. van Rijn. In all other cases a capital letter must be used, for example, de heer Van Kampen, or when preceded by an academic title as in dr. Van Wijk.
In Belgium, this capitalization practice is not followed; prefixes in most common Dutch names are always capitalized, though occasionally 'Van de' occurs whereas another family may have the otherwise identical name spelled as 'Van De'. Also, prepositions can be merged with the surname (such as Vandecasteele), or can be separate (Van De Casteele), and a few combinations occur (Vande Casteele). These variations indicate different families and not all names exist with several spellings. (More on this under Tussenvoegsels.)
When van is followed by the name of a place or area, this may (but usually does not) indicate that a person belongs to the nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
or royalty
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
such as van Tuyll
Tuyll
Tuyll is the name of a noble Dutch family, with familial and historical links to England, whose full name is van Tuyll van Serooskerken. Several knights, members of various courts, literary figures, generals, ambassadors, statesmen and explorers carried the family name.-Early and High Middle...
van Serooskerken. This usage exists also in Flemish names, though its nobility usually obtained the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
prefix 'de'. In Dutch aristocratic names, the prefix is never capitalized. This results in people being very strict about whether the prefix in someone's name should be capitalized or not, and in emigrants from the Netherlands always having an uncapitalized prefix.
Van can also indicate that a person is from a certain farm. The ancestors of the Dutch soprano Elma van Den Dool lived on a farm called Den Dool. The first letter of Den gets capitalised (she is from Den Dool).
In name directories in the Netherlands, the prefixes are always ignored for sorting (e.g. Van Rijn is ordered under 'R'). A Dutch surname may often contain an article and/or a preposition, preceding the noun. Sometimes these have been merged with the name. Many Dutch surnames originated from different personal qualities, geographical locations, and occupations. However, Dutch names in English directories (e.g. reference lists of scientific papers) may be ordered on the full name including all prefixes (Van Rijn would be ordered under 'V'), partly because many Dutch emigrant families to English-speaking countries have had their prefixes capitalized for them, whether they liked it or not, like Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....
or Steve Van Dyck
Steve Van Dyck
Dr. Steve Van Dyck is the Senior Curator of vertebrates at Queensland Museum, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.Steve Van Dyck was instrumental in the rediscovery of the endangered Mahogany Glider in 1989.- Honour :...
, and normal practise in English is to order on the first capitalized element.
In Belgium, all prefixes are always included for sorting.
Dutch (Netherlands) naming law (surnames)
In line with Dutch tradition, marriage used to require a woman to precede her maiden name with her husband's name and add a hyphen between the two. Thus, when Anna Pietersen married Jan Jansen, she became Anna Jansen-Pietersen.However, this did not become her legal name. Her legal name did not change at all. Passports, and other official documents, continued to name her Anna Pietersen, even though there might have been "spouse of Jan Jansen" added.
The current law in the Netherlands gives people more freedom: upon marriage, both partners default to keeping their own surnames, but both are given the choice of using their partner's surname, or a combination of the two. For example, if a person called Jansen marries someone called Smit, each partner has the choice to call himself or herself Jansen, Smit, Jansen-Smit or Smit-Jansen. The preferred option will be registered with the municipal registration, without giving up the right to use one's original name, which remains the legal name.
However, in practice, the standard procedure is that when a woman marries, she either keeps her maiden name or has a double surname, for example, Miss Jansen marries Mr Smit she either chooses to become Mrs Jansen or Mrs Smit-Jansen. It is not common to only take the partner's surname.
This can cause problems for foreign national females living in the country, as you are required to present your birth certificate and passport as proof of identification, for instance. If you have changed your surname upon marriage, then you are advised that in municipal records your surname as it appears on your birth certificate takes precedence.
Also, in day-to-day life and banking, a woman's maiden name is given preferential status.
Parents can choose to give their children either their father's or mother's family name, as long as the parents are married or are living together and the father has acknowledged the child. The surname of younger siblings must be the same as the surname of the oldest child.
Patronymics
More common than surnames before 1811 was the use of patronymicPatronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
s. Children even with established last names would also use a patronymic and often therefore received no middle names. The patronymic was based on one's father's name. The oldest form used the possessive of the fathers name along with the word for son or daughter. Examples would be a boy born to Jan being named Pieter Jans zoon while his daughter might be named Geertje Jans dochter. These forms were also commonly shortened, to Janszn. and Jansdr., or to Jansse, and finally to Jans which could be used for both male or female children. These patronymic names were official and even used on legal documents where inheritances can be seen to pass from father to son with different "last names".
After 1811, many patronymics became permanent surnames such that Peeters, Jansen, Willems are common surnames today.
Most common Dutch surnames
- See also: Dutch name and List of most common surnames in Europe#Netherlands
The most common Dutch surnames in the Netherlands (as of 1947) and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
are listed to the right. Meertens' Dutch surname database lists 94143 different family names, the total Dutch speaking population
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
in Europe is estimated to be about 23 million people. The most common Dutch names in Belgium are nearly all Patrynomic"father-based" names in which they are composed with the following formula name of father + "-son", the only exceptions being "De Smet" (the Smith) and - to a certain extent, because it is also a patronymic ("Thomas") - "Maes" (Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
). The most common Dutch names in the Netherlands are more diverse, with names ranging from "Visser" (fisherman
Fisherman
A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men...
) to "Van Dijk" ((living along) the dike) and "De Jong" (the young (one)). It should be remembered however that these figures are based on the data of an entire country, and on a smaller scale other names tend to dominate certain region
Region
Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
s.
Tussenvoegsels
In the Dutch languageDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, many names use certain qualifying words (prepositions) positioned between a person's given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
and their surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
. Although these words, tussenvoegsel
Tussenvoegsel
A tussenvoegsel in Dutch linguistics is a word that is positioned between a person's first and last name. The most common tussenvoegsels are "van" meaning "from" and "de" , meaning "the"...
s, are not strictly essential to state the person's surname, they are nevertheless a part of the surname and are almost always included for clarity.
In the Netherlands, for example, someone whose family name is "De Vries" is not found at the letter "D" in the telephone directory
Telephone directory
A telephone directory is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory...
but at "V;" the "de" is a tussenvoegsel
Tussenvoegsel
A tussenvoegsel in Dutch linguistics is a word that is positioned between a person's first and last name. The most common tussenvoegsels are "van" meaning "from" and "de" , meaning "the"...
and is not a part of the indexing process but rather is more of a stylistic qualifier. The major reason for this methodology is that it makes finding someone's name in a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
relatively easy, since most Dutch prepositions start with the same letter
Letter (alphabet)
A letter is a grapheme in an alphabetic system of writing, such as the Greek alphabet and its descendants. Letters compose phonemes and each phoneme represents a phone in the spoken form of the language....
(and thus if the prepositions led, there would be constant superfluous data entry to arrive at the desired name). But when referencing to this type of Dutch names in English scientific papers, authors will always use the full name "De Vries". It is clear this creates often some confusion.
This system used in the Netherlands is not applicable to foreign names, although some libraries in the Netherlands as well as all official institutions in the Netherlands do. The flemish name "Van der Velde" for instance, or the German name "Von Beethoven" may never be changed in directories. Citizens or authors have to insist for this 'derogation'. In general, 'splitting' the surname is used only in the Netherlands for Dutch names composed of a preposition preceding the main word.
The above technique is not used in Flanders, where surnames are always kept to their full length, including the prepositions. In a telephone directory the name "De Vries" can be found only at the "D". This system is used throughout Belgium (and Flanders) and is consistent with the international way of listing surnames.
In the Netherlands, the tussenvoegsel is written with a capital letter if no name or initial precedes it. For example:
- a person with the name "Jan" as a given name and "de Vries" as a surname would be written Jan de Vries or J. de Vries.
- Moreover, "de heer De Vries" would mean, literally, Mr. De Vries - since the tussenvoegsel is capitalized when a first name or initial is not present.
See also the main Dutch surnames section.
In Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
tussenvoegsels of personal names always keep their original orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
: mevrouw van der Velde, mevrouw J. van der Velde, and Jan Van den Broeke.
Some Dutch tussenvoegsel
Tussenvoegsel
A tussenvoegsel in Dutch linguistics is a word that is positioned between a person's first and last name. The most common tussenvoegsels are "van" meaning "from" and "de" , meaning "the"...
s (many of these words are inflected, and therefore often are not totally accurate) include:
- aan (on)
- bij (at)
- de, den, der, d' (the)
- het, 't (the)
- in (in)
- onder (below)
- op (on)
- over (over)
- des, 's (of the)
- te, ten, ter (at)
- tot (til, at)
- uit, uijt (out of, from)
- van, van den (of, of the)
- ver (far)
- voor (for)
And combinations:
- aan de, aan den, aan der, aan het, aan 't (by the)
- bij de, bij den, bij het, bij 't (at the)
- boven d' (above the)
- de die, de die le, de l', de la, de las, de le, de van der,
- in de, in den, in der, in het, in 't (in the)
- onder de, onder den, onder het, onder 't (under the)
- over de, over den, over het, over 't (over the)
- op de, op den, op der, op gen, op het, op 't, op ten (on the)
- van de, van de l', van den, van der, vander, van gen, van het, van la, van 't, van ter, van van de (of the)
- uit de, uit den, uit het, uit 't, uit te de , uit ten (from the/out of the)
- uijt de, uijt den, uijt het, uijt 't, uijt te de , uijt ten (from the/out of the)
- voor de, voor den, voor in 't (in front of the/for the)