In any team you can meet a person with an unusual, strange or very funny surname. As a rule, its origin depends on the specific traditions of the country in which its owner was born. For example, Dutch surnames are considered one of the funniest in the world. Why - learn from this article.
Surname: from birth and for life
The very word "surname", so familiar to us today, comes from the ancient Roman. This word meant a large and strong family with a man at the head. Then the ancient Romans included in the concept of the family, by the way, and slaves serving the masters. In Russia, the rules were almost the same: until the abolition of serfdom, peasants had the same surname as the landowner.
Nowadays, there is no place without a surname - it is given to us from birth and most often remains with us for life. Except for special cases, of course.
History of funny surnames of the Dutch
Dutch surnames are considered the funniest in all of Europe, and there is a perfectly reasonable historical explanation for this. When in 1811 the nation was subjugated by Napoleon, he issued a decree according to which every resident of the Netherlands was obliged to acquire a French surname.
The Dutch themselves, who had only names before, were not going to obey the law. And since they believed that the occupation of the country was only a temporary measure, they decided not to bother themselves and not puzzle over inventing surnames. And the freedom-loving people did not mind mocking the invaders.
So absolutely stupid names appeared, which simply could not be pronounced without laughter. For example, Naaktgeboren, which literally means "born naked." Or the Piest. There were also whole clan branches under the name Rotmensen - translated from Dutch, “rotten people”.
A few years later, the war with Napoleon ended, and the inhabitants of the country became independent again. However, contrary to expectations, the law was never repealed. So the heirs of these people have to carry dissonant surnames to this day. But they are rightfully considered the most original in the world.
What does “van” mean in Dutch surnames?
Recognition of the generic names of the inhabitants of the Netherlands is given to them by nothing like prefixes: “van”, “de”, “van der” and others. It is because of this that Dutch surnames are so widely known abroad. For example, in the USA they are very popular.
For many Americans, the names of the Dutch are automatically associated with prestige and high affluence. Mainly due to the fact that wealthy industrialists came from the Netherlands. Take Cornelius Vanderbilt for example. But his name, despite the beautiful sound, the most that neither is ordinary. There was such a town near Utrecht, it was called Bilt. And the surname Van-der-Bilt (Vanderbilt) means a native of this town, that is, one who comes "from Bilt."
The Germans also have a catchy prefix von, indicating the aristocratic status of the carrier. But the Dutch version of van is much more prosaic, and it does not have any social status.
The prefix “van” is usually written by the inhabitants of the Netherlands with a lowercase letter (the exception is in the initials or at the beginning of the sentence), but abroad it can be written with a capital letter.
Most popular Dutch names
In general, the Netherlands is a state, although small, but very socially saturated. The proximity to Belgium and Germany, the rich ethnic and religious composition, several indigenous groups of the population - all this can not but influence the Dutch names.
If you want to know all about the names in this country, you should visit the local Social Insurance Bank. In addition to its main task - insurance of the population against all kinds of disasters, this structure also deals with statistics on the names of residents.
Once every three months, bank employees post on the official website lists of the most popular names - male and female. You can also notice a tendency to decrease or increase the popularity of each name, compared with the previous period. For any name you can find complete information, including its origin, etymology, correspondences in other languages and famous carriers.
It is curious that information on names you will find only in the Dutch version of the site. Although he himself is available in many languages, including English, German, French and Spanish. Nevertheless, you need to understand Dutch in order to find out the most popular Dutch names.
Male names, for example, Daan, Sem, Lucas, Milan, Thomas are found at almost every step here. And if we talk about popular women’s, they are Emma, Julia, Sophie, Lotte, Lisa and Anna.
The origin of Dutch surnames
Today, almost any Dutch surname can be attributed to one of four categories of origin: geographical, professional, descriptive or family:
- Surnames that are derived from the region in which its carrier lives or his ancestor once lived are widespread. For example, de Vries. Sometimes it’s not just a region, but a specific estate or place where a person worked - van Aller or van de Vliert (literally “coming from the farm”)
- Another example of a typical surname is by profession. For example, Haak means “peddler, ” Kuiper means “cooper, ” and with de Klerk, everything is clear - the person worked as a clerk.
- The third group of surnames came from certain physical characteristics of a person or properties of his character. For example, Dik means bold, and de Groot means big. Not everyone was lucky with the surname, what can I say.
- The last group of surnames is associated with the origin of its carrier and transmits family ties. Addicks means nothing more than “son of Addicus, ” and Evers means “son of Ever.” That is, a peculiar middle name is an analogue of what we wear in Russia.
