van (Dutch)

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Van is a preposition in the Dutch and Afrikaans languages, meaning "of" or "from" depending on the context (similar to de and di in the Romance languages). It is a very common prefix in Dutch language surnames (where it is known as a tussenvoegsel), in which case it's nearly always referring to a place of origin; examples of this can be found in the names Vincent van Gogh or Marco van Basten. Van in this manner can appear by itself or in combination with another prefix, such as van de, van der and van den (current and archaic forms of the article de, meaning "the") and less commonly van het or van 't (the neutral article het). Common is ver-, a contraction of van der and written as a single word with the rest of the surname, as in Johannes Vermeer.

Nobility

The German "von" is a cognate of Dutch "van", though unlike the German "von", the Dutch "van" is not always an indication of nobility or royalty. The Dutch word van can both imply nobility (William of Orange) or another relation to a geographic place (toponym); e.g. place of birth (John from Delft).

Other prepositions

Main article: tussenvoegsel

The preposition "van" is the most widely used preposition in Dutch surnames, but many others are also used, although not always recognized as such if the whole surname is written as a single word. Just as "van" all these prepositions used to indicate geographical locations:

Apart from these prepositions the prefix "de" (not a preposition but an article, meaning "the") is also very common. They indicate a property, quality or origin, as in "de Lange" (the tall one), "de Korte" (the small one), "de Groot" (the big one), "de Zwart", "de Wit", "de Rode" (the one with black, white, red hair or skin), "de Rijke" (the rich one). The most widespread is "de Vries" (the Frisian).

For Dutch people of French (usually Huguenot) origin whose ancestors never modified their surnames to fit Dutch norms, the prefix "de" is a preposition similar in meaning to "van".

Conventions

Collation and capitalisation

Collation and capitalisation of names differs between countries:

Concatenation

In some names, usually those of the Flemish/Belgian ones, and also some of the names of people from outside the Low Countries (with Dutch-speaking immigrant ancestors), the prefixes are concatenated to each other or to the name proper and form a single-worded or two-worded surnames, as in Vandervelde or Vande Velde. Prominent examples include "Vandenberg" and "Vanderbilt".

Names

In the United States some English surnames were later given the preposition Van, such as in the case of Van Owen or Van Blake. Since Owen and Blake don't represent geographical locations, they are recognizable as not original Dutch "van" surnames. "Owen" is a Welsh cognate with Eugene meaning noble-born. "Blake" could come from "blac", a nickname for someone who had light hair or skin.

Prominent people with Van in their surname

Maerten Harpertsz Tromp, a famous Dutch admiral from the 17th century, was also known as Maerten Harpertsz van Tromp and even Maerten Harpertsz van der Tromp.

See also

References

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