Susan, Since you have Opdyckes in your family and I do also, do you know if there was ever a connection made from John Opdycke (1710-1777) who married Margaret Green to Gysbert Opdycke or the Gysbert family name? I also have a grandmother by the name of Mayke Gysberts who married Jan Jansen Verkerk/Verkerck -- later Van Kirk. The Van Kirk's lived in New Utrecht, Long Island, NY. The Opdyckes lived in Gravesend, LI, NY, not far away on the western end of Long Island. Both families moved later to Bensalem, Bucks Co., PA and Hunterdon Co. NJ. Susan Shuler Pena Texas -----Original Message----- From: njhunter-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:njhunter-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of susan.avery@juno.com Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 8:27 AM To: njhunter@rootsweb.com Cc: perry@streeter.com; njhunter@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NJHUNTER] Dutch & English Name Equivalents I wasn't going to get in on this discussion but I think I just have to point one thing out -- there are NOT nicknames per se - these are English names that the Dutch took to have a name that the rest of the population would recognize and know how to pronounce, and to blend in to a largely English society. The name could be picked by the Dutch really at their own will or in a lot of cases is a name that sounds close - not exact - but close to what the Dutch name sounded like. My Aletje Opdyck for instance became Anna - doesn't sound like Aletje, nor is there an English equivalent - but starts with the same letter. Another name in my family lines is Trintjie Andriessen (which by the way also got Anglicized to Anderson - which became Catherine - absolutely nothing like Trintjie - I could go on and on - I have tons of examples. Gertie is already the diminutive for Gertraut or Gertrude and if the family or she chose to use Charity it was probably unique to her, just like Catherine was no doubt unique to this particular Trintjie. Records and Deeds eventually began just using the English names that these people chose for themselves - and don't forget the last names of many of these folks also got Anglicized - as is the case for my Anderson family of Hopewell, NJ - and the Dutch had to drop using the "son of" patronomic naming system. The Anderson line is a good case in point - in my line Jochem Andries son was Andries Jochemson, and this immigrant ancestor (to New Netherlands or New Amsterdam, Long Island) named his son Joachim Andriessen. By the time his son Cornelius came to Hopewell, NJ with his wife Annetje "Anna" Opdyck the name was changed to Anderson. So these are not nicknames in the usual sense, but Anglicized names for Dutch names that for the English were next to unpronounceable. Susan Balde Avery Descendant of Hopewell families of Anderson, Opdyke, Phillips, Hunt, Parke, Smith (Andrew), & Stockton On Sat, 24 Mar 2012 08:38:07 -0400 (EDT) kaysfo@aol.com writes:> > > I did this, and found most Dutch-English lists do not equate the > name Charity with Geertje, but only with Gertrude or Trudie. I > wonder if this Geertje = Charity switch is an anomaly peculiar to > only certain areas. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Perry Streeter <perry@streeter.com> > To: njhunter <njhunter@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Fri, Mar 23, 2012 10:44 pm > Subject: [NJHUNTER] Dutch & English Name Equivalents > > > By Googling on "Dutch English Name Equivalents" and similar search > phrases > r terms, one will find many lists of English-Dutch name pairs like > harity-Geertje and many of these pairs are *not* intuitive. > However, > ccepting the validity of these pairs is no different than accepting > stablished old-fashioned nicknames for names that are not always > intuitive > o us now like Polly for Mary, Patty for Martha, etc. > Recognizing English-Dutch name pairs can provide important clues for > solving > ong-standing mysteries. For one of my favorite examples, please > click on > he link below to see how recognizing Metje as the Dutch equivalent > of > artha (instead of Margaret!) was critical to identifying Martha, the > wife > f Obadiah-2 Wilkins (William-1) and John-2 Griggs (John-1), as the > daughter > f John-1 and Ann (Spicer) Lake, all of Gravesend, Kings County, New > York. > http://www.perrystreeter.com/griggs.pdf > For my unsolved "cold cases" for Hunterdon County and beyond, please > see... > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~streeter/questions.htm > > Somehow your Dutch cousin, > Perry > Perry Streeter (perry@streeter.com) > ww.perry.streeter.com > > > isit the Hunterdon County GenWeb page at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter > ------------------------------ > o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NJHUNTER-request@rootsweb.com > ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the > body of > he message > > > Visit the Hunterdon County GenWeb page at: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NJHUNTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > Visit the Hunterdon County GenWeb page at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~njhunter ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NJHUNTER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message