Femke () is a

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

and West Frisian feminine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

of West Frisian origin. It means and is derived from the name Femme. Originally from

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

, the name Femke started to spread beyond this region around 1960, with peaks in popularity in 1980 and 2001. It is the name of over 26,000 women in the Netherlands and Belgium and can also be found in northwest Germany.

Etymology

Femke was originally a West Frisian name from

Opsterland Opsterland (; ) is a municipality in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. Population centres Drachten-Azeven is an industrial zone of Drachten located in Opsterland. Hamlets The hamlets within the municipality are: Ald Beets, Allards ...

and surroundings.Gerrit Bloothooft & David Onland,
Regionale voornamen: Fryslân
(in Dutch), ''Neerlandistiek'', 16 October 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2023. Femke means : it is a

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

, indicated by the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

, of the name Fem which is the feminine form of the West Frisian masculine name Femme.Verklaring voornaam Femme
(in Dutch), ''Nederlandse Voornamenbank'',

Meertens Institute The Meertens Institute (Dutch ''Meertens Instituut'') in Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of ...

. Retrieved 24 November 2023.Gerrit Bloothooft & Marijn Schraagen,
Name fashion dynamics and social class
, ''Proceedings International Conference of Onomastic Sciences'', 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2023. According to the

, Femme is probably a children's form for a two-part

Germanic name Germanic given names are traditionally dithematic; that is, they are formed from two elements ( stems), by joining a prefix and a suffix. For example, King Æþelred's name was derived from ', meaning "noble", and ', meaning "counsel". The i ...

with a first part Frede from the

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

() followed by a second part starting with the letter ''m'', such as the name Fredemar meaning from the Proto-Germanic and (). Variants of Femke and other feminine diminutives derived from Femme are Famke, Feemke, Femkje, Femmeke, Femmetje, Femmigje, and Fimke.

Popularity

In the Netherlands, the name Femke was given to 0–12 newborns each year from 1790 until 1960, mainly in the northern province of

where the West Frisian language is spoken, when the name started to gain popularity countrywide, which peaked in 1980 with 516 newborns and again in 2001 with 752 newborns.Voornaam Femke
(in Dutch), ''Nederlandse Voornamenbank'',

. Retrieved 24 November 2023. These peaks correspond with Dutch popularity trends of feminine given names ending in , also including Maaike,

Marieke Marieke (), also spelled Marike, is a Dutch-language feminine given name, a diminutive of Maria. The Polish, Greek and Japanese equivalent is Marika. The ''-ke'' suffix is characteristic for Flemish, Brabantian and Limburgish dialects, indi ...

, and Nienke. Academic researchers have investigated the peaks for Femke, but were unable to explain what caused them. Femke has become the most-common feminine given name of West Frisian origin in the Netherlands. As of 2017, Femke was the first name of 18,929 women (0.2537%), making it the 56th-most-common feminine first name, and a middle name of 1,725 women (0.0233%) in the Netherlands; the municipality of

Zeewolde Zeewolde () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the Flevoland province in the central Netherlands. It has a population of approximately 24,000 (2024). It is situated in the polder of Flevoland with the small lake ca ...

had the highest percentage of women named Femke (1.0012%), followed by five municipalities in the province of Friesland with the next highest percentages (0.6025–0.8141%). In Belgium, the popularity of the name Femke also peaked in 2001 with 369 newborns.Evolution of the first names of new born children in Belgium since 1995
, Statbel. Retrieved 24 November 2023. As of 2022, Femke was the given name of 5,626 women (%) in Belgium, making it the 219th-most-common feminine given name in this country;Prénoms des femmes en 2022
(in French), Statbel. Retrieved 24 November 2023.Population by gender and age group - Belgium, last year
, Statbel. Retrieved 24 November 2023. 5,575 women named Femke (%) lived in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium bordering the Netherlands, where it was the 113th-most-common feminine given name. In Germany, there are no official statistics about given names.Deutsche Vornamensstatistiken
(in German), ''Beliebte-Vornamen.de''. Retrieved 1 December 2023. Based on information from over 450 German cities, a website about given names in Germany determined that Femke was most popular in the northwestern state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, which is bordering the Netherlands, particularly in the region of

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

and the city of

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Ge ...

Notable people named Femke

Notable people with the first name Femke include: * Femke Bastiaen (born 2001), Belgian footballer *

Femke Beuling Femke Beuling (; born 20 December 1999) is a Dutch Speed skating, speed skater who specializes in the sprint distances. Career At the Dutch qualifying tournament in November 2018 she won a ticket for the first three World Cup 500 m events. At ...

(born 1999), Dutch speed skater and cyclist * Femke Boelen (born 1968), Dutch rower *

Femke Bol Femke Bol (; born 23 February 2000) is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in hurdling and Sprint (running), sprinting. She specialises in the 400 metres hurdles, where she is the 2023 World Athletics Championships – Women's 400 ...

(born 2000), Dutch track and field athlete *

Femke Dekker Femke Dekker (; born 11 July 1979) is a Dutch rower from the Netherlands. Dekker started rowing in 1990 and made her international debut in the double sculls at the 1995 Junior World Championships in Poznań. Together with Christel Rijnten sh ...

(born 1979), Dutch rower *

Femke Gerritse Femke Gerritse (; born 14 May 2001) is a Dutch professional racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . In 2019, she won the Dutch national junior women's road race. In 2021, she signed with Parkhotel Valkenburg. In 2022, ...

(born 2001), Dutch cyclist *

Femke Halsema Femke Halsema (; born 25 April 1966) is a Dutch politician and filmmaker serving as Mayor of Amsterdam since 2018. She is the first woman to hold the position on a non-interim basis. She previously was a member of the House of Representatives ...

(born 1966), Dutch politician *

Femke Heemskerk Frederike Johanna Maria "Femke" Heemskerk (; born 21 September 1987) is a former Dutch competitive Swimming (sport), swimmerFemke Hermans (born 1990), Belgian boxer * Femke Hiemstra (born 1974), Dutch painter * Femke Huijzer (born 1999), Dutch fashion model * Femke Kok (born 2000), Dutch speed skater * Femke Kooijman (born 1978), Dutch field hockey player * Femke Liefting (born 2005), Dutch footballer *

Femke Merel van Kooten Femke Merel van Kooten-Arissen (; ; born 9 November 1983) is a Dutch politician and former member of the House of Representatives. Political career Party for the Animals Van Kooten served as a member of the Provincial Council of Utrecht for the ...

(born 1983), Dutch politician * Femke Maes (born 1980), Belgian footballer * Femke Markus (born 1996), Dutch cyclist *

Femke Meines Femke Meines (; born 11 May 2000) is a Dutch singer and actress. Meines began her career at age 12, when she represented the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the tenth editio ...

(born 2000), Dutch singer and actress * Femke Pluim (born 1994), Dutch pole vaulter * Femke Stoltenborg (born 1991), Dutch volleyball player *

Femke Van den Driessche Femke Van den Driessche (; born 27 August 1996) is a Belgian former cyclo-cross bicycle racing, cyclist, mountainbiker and road racing cyclist. As a junior, she became national cyclo-cross champion in 2011 and mountain bike champion in 2013. In 2 ...

(born 1996), Belgian cyclist * Femke van Velzen (born 1980), Dutch documentary filmmaker * Femke Verschueren (born 2000), Belgian singer * Femke Verstichelen (born 1984), Belgian cyclist * Femke de Vries (born 1994), Dutch cyclistFemke de Vries
,

Union Cycliste Internationale The Union Cycliste Internationale (; UCI; ) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing licenses to riders and enforces di ...

. Retrieved 5 june 2025. * Femke Wiersma (born 1984), Dutch politician *

Femke Wolting Femke Wolting (; born 6 November 1970 in Ouder-Amstel, The Netherlands) is a Dutch independent new media producer. Background Together with Bruno Felix, Femke Wolting is founder and Managing Director of Submarine, an independent film, televisi ...

(born 1970), Dutch new media producer * Femke Zeedijk (born 1974), Dutch politician

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline Dutch feminine given names Feminine given names West Frisian given names