'Patronymic' literally means 'father's name'. It means that someone calls himself after his father, for example a son of Jan would call himself 'Jansen'. This is similar to the English name 'Johnson'.

History

Patronymics were very popular before the introduction of the civil registration in 1811. Only when the civil registration was introduced, people were required to chose a fixed surname. Before that, people could call themselves however they want. In some regions, people named themselves after their fathers by using patronymics.

Even after the introduction of the civil registration, many people still used the patronymics. Especially in the early years of the civil registration, this was tolerated. The patronymic was used as a sort of middle name in addition to the official family name.

Regional variations

Patronymics were used instead of last names especially in the northern provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe and the northern parts of Overijssel.

In some southern regions like Noord-Brabant, patronymics were used in addition to last names. There, people often named themselves after more generations of ancestors. For example: A Willem Peter Adriaan Jan Verschuren would be Willem, son of Peter, son of Adriaan, son of Jan Verschuren. Beware however, because sometimes a son had the same name as the father and that name was skipped. Instead of Willem Peter Peter Adriaan Jan Verschuren, he might be called just Willem Peter Adriaan Jan Verschuren, which 'skips' a generation.

Last week, my friend Mary Risseeuw from Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin and I gave a presentation at the International Congress for genealogical and heraldic Sciences in Maastricht. The title was "We're all fresh and healthy. Emigration from the Netherlands to the United States in the 19th century. The slides are now available online.

I've just added a Dutch genealogy store to the site. In this store, visitors can buy books, DVDs and prints about Dutch genealogy, history and culture. I've selected publications that I think would benefit somebody researching his Dutch roots. The store is powered by Amazon. This website receives a commission for all sales, enabling this website to remain free.

Many Dutch family names have prefixes like 'de' or 'van'. They have a special role in the Dutch family name which you have to be aware of when researching names with prefixes.

Birth records are a part of the civil registration. A birth record lists the following data:

• Place, date and time of birth
• Names of parents
• Name, profession and age of the one registering the birth (often the father)
• Names, profession and age of the witnesses
• Often: address where the birth took place

The province of Noord-Brabant lies in the south of the Netherlands. It borders on Limburg to the east, the country of Belgium to the south, the province of Zeeland to the west and the provinces of Zuid-Holland, Utrecht and Gelderland to the north.

The capital city of Noord-Brabant is Den Bosch, also known as 's-Hertogenbosch. Other larger towns are:

• Breda
• Eindhoven
• Tilburg
• Roosendaal
• Oss

After World War II was over, many people wanted to start a new life across the ocean. Five years of war had destroyed the Dutch economy, and it would take years to recover. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, many Dutch people emigrated to Australia, Canada and the United States.