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''van'' () is a very common prefix in Dutch language
surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
s, where it is known as a . In those cases it nearly always refers to a certain, often quite distant, ancestor's
place of origin In Switzerland, the place of origin (, literally "home place" or "citizen place"; ; , literally "place of relevance") denotes where a Swiss citizen has their municipal citizenship, usually inherited from previous generations. It is not to be confus ...
or residence; for example, Ludwig ''van Beethoven'' "from Beethoven" (maybe Bettenhoven) and Rembrandt ''van Rijn'' "from the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
". ''Van'' is also a
preposition Adpositions are a part of speech, class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various thematic relations, semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositi ...
in the
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
Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
languages, meaning "of" or "from" depending on the context (similar to '' da'', '' de'', '' di'' and '' do'' in the
Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
). In surnames, it can appear by itself or in combination with an
article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article(s) may also refer to: ...
(compare
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
''de la'', ''du'', ''de l). The most common cases of this are ''van de'', ''van der'' and ''van den'', where the articles are all current or archaic forms of the article ''de'' "the". Less common are ''van het'' and ''van 't'', which use the similar but grammatically neuter article ''het''. The
contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...
''ver-'', based on ''van der'', is also common and can be written as a single word with the rest of the surname; an example being
Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...
(''van der meer'' "of the
lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
").


Spelling conventions


Collation and capitalisation

Collation Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. Many systems of collation are based on numerical order or alphabetical order, or extensions and combinations thereof. Collation is a fundamental element of most office fi ...
and
capitalisation Capitalization ( North American spelling; also British spelling in Oxford) or capitalisation (Commonwealth English; all other meanings) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in ...
of names differs between countries. In the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and
Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
, names starting with "''van''" are filed under the initial letter of the following name proper, so Johannes van der Waals is filed under "W", as: "Waals, Johannes van der" or "van der Waals, Johannes". The "v" is written in lower case, except when the surname is used as standalone (when the first name or initials are omitted), in which case it is capitalised, as in "''de schilder
Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...
''" and "''de schilder Van Gogh'' ("the painter Van Gogh"). In compound terms like "''de Van Goghtentoonstelling'' ("the Van Gogh exhibition") the "v" is capitalised, unless the connection between the person and the concept is or has become very weak. In
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, any surnames beginning with "''Van''" or "''van''" are filed under "V". So for example
Eric Van Rompuy Eric Karel Paul Van Rompuy (born 23 November 1949) is a Flemish politician. Biography He is the son of the later Prof. em. dr. Vic Van Rompuy and brother of Herman Van Rompuy and Christine Van Rompuy.Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...
surnames the "V" is always capitalised though a following interjected "''de''", "''den''" ('the') or "''der''" ('of the', 'from the') usually stays lowercase. In
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
the
Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...
surname Van der Merwe would be listed under the "v" section as is done in Belgium and not under "m" as in "Merwe, J. van der"; however, South Africa follows the same capitalisation convention as the Netherlands (thus, one would refer in English or in Afrikaans to a "Jan van der Merwe" when the first name is included, but simply to "Van der Merwe" when the first name is omitted). In anglicised versions of Dutch names (as in
Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. Dick Van Dyke on screen and stage, His work spans screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Dick Van Dyke, his awards includ ...
,
George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...
,
Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was the eighth president of the United States, serving from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as Attorney General o ...
,
Robert J. Van de Graaff Robert Jemison Van de Graaff (December 20, 1901 – January 16, 1967) was an American physicist, noted for his design and construction of high-voltage Van de Graaff generators. He spent most of his career in the Massachusetts Institute of Tech ...
), the "''van'' is almost always capitalised in the United States, but in the British Isles some families of Dutch origin continue to use the Dutch form (e.g. Caroline van den Brul). Names in other languages may contain a component "Van" that is unrelated to the Dutch preposition. The common Vietnamese middle name " Văn", often spelled in English text without diacritics, as in " Pham Van Tra", is a male given name, implying education. Where the "Van" is not of Dutch origin, such as in the Vietnamese middle name Wen or Van, (as in
Dương Văn Minh Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm. ...
,
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the Leaders of South Vietnam, president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Repub ...
), the "v" is not lowercase.


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
concatenate In formal language theory and computer programming, string concatenation is the operation of joining character strings end-to-end. For example, the concatenation of "snow" and "ball" is "snowball". In certain formalizations of concatenati ...
d 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".


Nobility

The
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
"''
von The term () is used in German surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means or . Nobility directories like the often abbreviate the noble term to ''v.'' ...
''" is a linguistic
cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...
of the Dutch "''van''"; however, unlike the German "''von''", the Dutch "''van''" is not necessarily indicative of the person's
nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
or
royalty Royalty may refer to: * the mystique/prestige bestowed upon monarchs ** one or more monarchs, such as kings, queens, emperors, empresses, princes, princesses, etc. *** royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen-regnant, and sometimes h ...
. ''Van'' has a history of being used by nobility and commoners alike to simply signify ancestral relation to a particular place (e.g. ''Willem van Oranje'' "William of
he principality of He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...
Orange
rance Rance may refer to: Places * Rance (river), northwestern France * Rancé, a commune in eastern France, near Lyon * Ranče, a small settlement in Slovenia * Rance, Wallonia, part of the municipality of Sivry-Rance ** Rouge de Rance, a Devonian ...
; ''Jan van Ghent'' "John ho hailsfrom
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
").


Related prepositions

The preposition "''van''" is the most widely used preposition in Dutch surnames, but many others are also used, although not always recognised as such if the whole surname is written as a single word. Just as "''van''" all these prepositions used to indicate geographical locations: * ''te'' – meaning "at" (or/of towards), (or ''ter'' and ''ten'', being the old
dative In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a drink". In this exampl ...
forms), ''e.g.'', '' ter Beek'' (of the stream) * ''thoe/thor'' – being the old forms of ''te'' as in '' Thorbecke'' (meaning "at the brook") * ''aan'' – meaning "at" or "aside" (also in combination ''aan de, aan den, aan het, aan 't''), ''e.g.'', ''aan de Stegge'' (meaning aside the road) * ''op'' – meaning "on" (also in combination ''op de, op der, op den, op ten, op 't, op het''), ''e.g.'', as in Op den Akker (on the field) * ''in'' – meaning "in" (also in combination ''in de, in den, in der, in het, in 't''), '' in 't Veld'' (in the field) * ''bij''  – meaning "at" (exclusively in combination ''bij de, bij 't): ''Bij 't Vuur'' (at the fire) * ''uit'' – or archaic uyt (uijt), meaning "out" or "from" (also in combination ''uit de, uit den, uit het, uyt de, uyt den, uijt de, uijt den, uijt ten''), ''e.g.'' Uytdehaage (from
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
or from the hedge). * ''over'' – meaning "over" or "from the other side" (also in combination ''over de''), as in Overeem (from the other side of the river Eem (river)) * ''onder'' – meaning "under" or "below" or "at the bottom" (also in combination ''onder de''), Onderdijk, Onderwater * ''achter'' – meaning "behind" (also in combination ''achter de'')
Achterberg Achterberg is a village in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is part of the municipality of Rhenen and it lies about 5 km west of Wageningen. The village was first mentioned in 1417 as Achterbergh, and means "(settlement) behind the hill" ...
(behind the mountain) * ''bezuiden'' – meaning "south of": Bezuidenhout (south of the woods) * ''boven'' – meaning "above" or "up": Bovelander (up in the land) * ''buiten'' – meaning "outside" or "in the country": Buitenhuis (outside the house) * ''voor''  – meaning "in front of", (also in combination ''voor de, voor den, voor 't, voor in 't'') * ''zonder'' – meaning "without": Zonderland (without land) or
Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). It is a part of HarperCollins, Ha ...
(without ''van'', e.g. without a surname beginning with ''van'') 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 short one), "''de Kleine''" (the little 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 Dutch family name is "''
de Vries De Vries is one of the most common Netherlands, Dutch surnames. It indicates a geographical origin: "Vriesland" is an old spelling of the Netherlands, Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia). Hence, "de Vries" means "the Frisian". The name has been m ...
''" (the Frisian). For Dutch people of French (usually
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
) origin whose ancestors never modified their surnames to fit Dutch norms, the prefix "''de''" is a French preposition similar in meaning to "''van''".


See also

* Roosevelt (name), originally spelled "Van Rosevelt" or "Van Rosenvelt" *
Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
*
Van Loo Van Loo is a Dutch toponymic surname, meaning "from the forest clearing", see van (Dutch). People with this surname include: ;A family of painters : *Jacob van Loo (1614–1670), Dutch painter * Louis-Abraham van Loo (1653–1712), Dutch-born ...
*
Van Rensselaer (surname) Van Rensselaer is a toponymic surname of Dutch origin. It derives from the farmstead of De Renselaar, situated near Putten in Gelderland. ''Van'' is a preposition meaning "from" and is a common prefix in Dutch-language surnames. In Dutch, "van" i ...


Notes


References


External links

* {{Wiktionary-inline, van#Dutch, van Dutch words and phrases Dutch-language surnames