The origin of your Dutch surname
The Meertens Institute is an institute that researches Dutch language and culture. They are also doing research into the origins and development of surnames in the Netherlands, and have published a large database of surnames and their meanings and origins.
If you want to know the meaning of your Dutch surname, have a look in their Database of Surnames. Click the British flag to get the search interface in English. The search result will still contain some data in Dutch, though.
The search results may contain an explication of the origin of the name, bibliographical references, specific name characteristics and components, lists of name variations and names with similar meaning, and the distribution of the name over The Netherlands in 1947.
Labels: Dutch names
Posted by Henk van Kampen
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I am trying to determine the meaning of the Guisbert or Guisbertson surname. This name later became Gilbertson and Giberson during the colonial period in America. The Guisbertsons (Gibersons) came to New Jersey in the early 1600's (1635?) and settled in the Port Republic area near Atlantic City. According to direct descendents still living in Port Republic, the name is Dutch. I learned this after I had spent my first 40 years being told by my family that we were Swedish. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
I don't think Guisbert is a Dutch name, but there are several similar Dutch names, like Gisberts, Gilberts, Gijsberts or Gijsbertsen. These are patronymic names, e.g. Gijsbertsen means "son of Gijsbert".
I read in a pulitzer prize comprehensive history book written by a Catherine somebody that the first "French pope" was a Geisbert. Perhaps after the Hugenot persecutions some emigrated to Dutch Reformed Holland, and became "Guisberts"
I was at a RV rental place in Denver and the girl at the counter excitedly greeted me, thinking I was Dutch. She was from Holland and informed me that Guisbert was a common name in Holland.
I kind of put this possibilty together because I have a summer home in Ontario and I have been told by numerous people they know "Guisberts" and that they are French speaking.
Ultimately, Guisbert may be French!
"uis" is often used in the French language, as is "ert" at the end of words and names.
Some food fo thought!
Her name wasn't Catherine. It was Barbara Tuchman,and the book was "A Distant Mirror", it covered the history of the 14th century.
A few minutes on the internet cleared that up for me! It was fun!
I need to know the meaning of Stolk. I need to know asap. I know that it is dutch and possibly german too, but no where have I been able to find the meaning of it.
The origin of the name Stolk is uncertain. Stolk may be a shortened form of Stolwijk, which is a Dutch village in the province Zuid-Holland.
See Stolk, Stolker and Stolwijk in the Dutch surname database (in Dutch).
Some of my Dutch surnames are:
Van Oblinis
Corsi
Cray
Van Campen/Kammpen
Corszen
Christiaens
Simons
Van Garden
You have Van Kampen ancestors, Cheryle? Me too;-)
Hi. I am trying to find the origin of the surname van de Rest?
Curiously, as a child, I was always told by my grandparents that our family had Dutch and Swedish roots. And that may yet be true. However, I have since discovered that the surname 'Giberson' has existed in Northern England and South western Scotland for centuries, even before the discovery and subsequent colonisation of the Americas. I theorise that due to the great numbers of 'British' Gibersons in southeastern New Jersey, the Dutch Guisbertsons and Scandinavian Giversens (Give is a county in Denmark) anglicised their names to Giberson in order to assimilate into the predominately English and Scots-Irish community. The Dutch pronunciation of Guisbertson would sound more like Hüspert-zawn than Gize-bert-sin and thus rather foreign to English ears. Therefore, it may be that there are many genealogically unrelated lines of Gibersons throughout the United States.
-Jersey Giberson
Hi
My maiden name was de Vroome and I know that it was my great great grandad who moved from Holland to England in the late 19th Century.
I would love to know the origin of the name.
Hi Sue,
De Vroome means The pious. According to the Meertens Institute, there were 309 De Vroomes in The Netherlands in 1947, 106 of them in the province Noord-Holland.
Hey there. I've been told that my last name is Dutch but I can't seem to confirm that fact for sure cause for one thing, the name Westenra is not listed in the Meersten Institute database, and second the internet is telling me that it could be Irish but I'm certain that I'm part Indische Nederlander though. Most of my ancestors were of Dutch decent. Could someone please help me out with this cause I've been researching my last name for a while now and the best historical information on the Westenra name that I've encountered states that it's the surname of the Rossmore Barons, a major landowning family in Ireland. It also states that the last name is Dutch, derived from "Westenraggah". I would love to ask my parents but shame the fact that we're no longer talking so further detailed information on my roots I would find greatly comforting. Dank je wel Schatjes! Doei! x
HI am researching my family roots for medical reasons, I am told my gramdmother was dutch. Her last name was Keaton. Every website takes me to England ..why? Were keatons settlers in England?please let me know Thanks
Keaton is an English name, not Dutch. Try to find out where your grandmother came from, if she was really Dutch.
"Westenra" is not a Dutch name, but "Westera" is. I expect your family name changed slightly after your ancestors left Holland.
Dank je wel Henk! Appreciate you helping me out! One last thing though, is there a meaning behind the Westera or Westra name? x
Browsing through Meertens, it seems that Westra is either a patronym ("son of Wester") or a toponym ("from WestXXX"). Westera is probably a toponym, this name probably originated in the province Overijssel.
I've noticed Dutch surnames revolve around patronymics and place names, also professions. Also, didn't the Dutch refuse to use surnames until Napolean made them register, and that's where we get some of the names from? My surname is DeGraff->Dijkgraaf. As far as i understand it has to do with a position or job. Currently what information i've gathered has my oldest paternal ancestor as a Krijn Dijkgraaf about 1620 in Oudenhoorn. Most of the relatives lived in the same region and other provinces close by. In an instance like this is there any way of knowing what possible surname they may have had before? And since it seems they didnt like to use surnames before the enactment from Napolean, how difficult is it traced back ancestry beyond that? Anyway for getting data that may help? Websites? Anything? Most things seem to turn up virtually nothing. All in all i think it will be interesting to get my Y-DNA results just to see how it plays out. I'd assume I'm of Germanic stock, but you never know. Maybe Frisian? Plus it's a coastal region so I'm sure there have been tons of ethnic groups flooding in and out of region that is the Netherlands. Do people from the Netherlands tend to be Germanic,Scandanavian,Celtic?
@Pete: many of the Dutch already used surnames before Napoleon was even born, but after Napoleon everybody needed to use surnames. Even before Napoleon people used patronymics as their surname (meaning...they already had a surname for some generations that used to be someones first name). The origins of most names are either patronimic, location (town, piece of land, description), profession, nicknames
Surnames were already common long before Napoleon. Only in rural areas in the north and east were surnames still rare.
Napoleon's laws (including the surname requirement) were introduced here in 1811. Pete's ancestor Krijn Dijkgraaf already used a surname in 1620.
guisbert means lone shepard
might anybody have an idea as to the etymology of the surname "Pothoven"? i'm a 3rd gen american, and know my heritage up to the early 17th century, but nobody seems to know what pothoven means literally in English. my opa says that hoven is an open area or something and pot is pot, but this doesn't seem to help. sloppy translation pages say it's something like 'courts of pot' but i'm skeptical. might anybody be able to shed some light on my name in a way that makes sense? it's worth noting that there are an immense amount of Pothovens in southern Holland, which strikes me as sort of the american version of "Smith."
I'm looking for the meaning and origin of the Katsma surname, any information would be great.
hi im searching high and low for the meaning and origin of the surname LOURENS - from what ive found it is said to derive from the dutch, scottish and even spanish. can anyone help me?
many thanks
Katsma was probably a place in or near Friesland, or maybe the name of a house: In 1723 married Geertje Claases, from Catsma, in Anjum (Friesland). Source: Tresoar.
The earliest references to the Katsma/Catsma name that I could find in Tresoar are a few baptisms of children of Claas/Klaas Catsma/Katsma in Anjum, just after 1700 (Geertje Claases may well have been a daughter of this Claas Catsma), and the marriage of Hylkje Catsma in Leeuwarden (Friesland) in 1700.
Lourens is a Dutch first name, and also a surname (a patronymic).
I don't know anything about Scottish or Spanish names, but it is quite possible that the name Lourens exists in other countries as well. If someone has the surname Lourens that does not prove s/he is from Dutch descent. To prove that you will have to research his/her ancestors.
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