For centuries, people have been recognized by their names. From the Middle Ages onwards, a two-name system (first name and surname) became increasingly common. However, its introduction proceeded very gradually from south to north, and it took until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before the northern provinces applied the two-name system. The inventing of names resulted in the creation of numerous names that can be classified into different groups.
Recording surnames
An important characteristic of a surname is that it is passed on from parent to child, unlike given names that can be completely chosen by oneself. Although children are often named after a parent by their first name, this is not a fixed rule but a custom within a certain family. But that habit is gradually disappearing because people are increasingly choosing a name themselves without a relationship with a parent. This option does not exist with the surname because it was determined in 1811 that no new names may be added and existing names may not be changed unless there is an important reason for this.
Different groups of surnames
Surnames can be classified into different groups according to a certain aspect. For example, surnames can be based on first names or on characteristics of people. Many names are also based on someone’s origin or on a certain relationship. Many names are also based on the names of animals and flowers or on a person’s profession or on a color. Less common are names that refer to a farm or to titles of noble persons.
Given names: Given names are surnames that are derived from a given name. A common example is Janssen, which name is derived from Jan and where the addition sen indicates Jan’s son. Other comparable examples are Paulusussen as son of Paulus and Pieterssen as son of Pieter. At a time when the two-name system had not yet been introduced in many places, these types of names were common.
Property names: A property name represents a specific characteristic of a person. This was usually a physical characteristic such as curly hair and the person was called Krol or Krul. Other names based on physical characteristics are, for example, De Lange, De Korte, De Klein. Although many of these names were originally the only name for the person, a first name was later added.
Origin names: Origin names are based on a place, region or river. Origin names based on places are very common, such as Van Aalst, Van Boxtel and Van Zutphen. An example of a surname that is derived from a region is Van de Akker or Terpstra. A common river name is Van Rijn.
Relationship names: A relationship name expresses a family bond or also indicates friendship or a certain social relationship. For example, Geboers or Nabuur refers to neighbors and Overman or O ffermans to the guild system.
Animal names: Animal names are very common and were probably once chosen by people who were very fond of animals or who lacked the imagination to find a name in another area. For example, many surnames are based on animals such as foxes, roosters, lions, moles and falcons.
Flower names: Just like animal names, flower names were obvious names to choose as a surname at the time, but they are less common than animal names. Rose based nam and are an example or simply Bloem, Bloemers and Blom.
Professional names: The explanation for the frequent occurrence of surnames that refer to a profession is obvious. When many names were chosen, especially in the Middle Ages, many lived in small communities where they practiced a specific profession. Soon someone almost automatically got the name of that profession as a surname. Common examples are Smid (Smit, Smits), Bakker, De Boer, Wagenmakers, Molenaar and Schoenmaker.
Color names: Color names are not very common, but many are proud of it because they think it is a beautiful name, such as De Bruin, Van Geel or Zwart (Black). And especially think of Van Oranje.
Farm names: Surnames based on a farm often come from Germany. They often refer to a Hoff (farm) with names such as Kortenhoff, Nienhoff and Broekhoff. But Dutch surnames also have hof or hofen as the last part of names such as Noordhof, Berkhof, Broekhoven and Beukhoven.
First names: A limited number of surnames refer to a noble person such as Keizer (De Keizer), Hertog, De Graaf and De Ridder.