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 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 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 (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 (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" (the Frisian). For Dutch people of French (usually
Huguenot) 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 ==