Thank you Cliff..very informative. I'm still finding out about my Dutch heritage. Pete> Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:10:42 -0500> From: clifflamere@nycap.rr.com> To: nyalbany@rootsweb.com> Subject: [NYALBANY] Dutch Names> > When the Dutch colony of New Netherland (now New York) formed in the > early 1600's, surnames were not required. It was a time when patronyms > were used, which means that people had a two-part name consisting of a > given name and a last name which was a variation of the father's given > name. If a boy Gilbert had a father named Jacob, the boy would be known > as Gilbert Jacobse (sometimes Jacobsz or Jacobsen). This basically > means "Gilbert, child of Jacob". The last name of Gilbert's son would > be Gilbertse, etc.> > The British gained control of the Dutch colony in 1664, lost control in > 1673, then regained control in 1674. The British required that people > have a surname. People who had none had to create one. Many took the > name of the village from which they came, but put Van (from) in front of > it. The Van Burens came from the village of Bueren or Beuren in the > Netherlands. Some took a name that described something environmental, > like Van Den Bergh, which means something like 'from the mountains', or > sometimes it was an occupation like Bakker (baker).> > The Dutch kept their patronym (meaning 'father's name') as a middle > name. My eighth greatgrandfather was Jacob Janse Gardenier (the son of > Jan, which was the equivalent of John). His sons and daughters all had > the middle name of Jacobse. My Danish greatgrandfather and his brother > had many children all with the middle name of Jacobs or Jacobsen. They > arrived in this country in the 1870's. Denmark didn't require surnames > until about 1860, like the other Scandinavian countries.> > In pre-1800 Reformed Dutch church records, a middle name was not often > recorded, but it was generally understood, at least for the sons. In a > baptism record, a boy could be recorded as John, son of Nicholas and > Mary Van Buren. Later, it is likely he would be referred to as John N. > Van Buren even if he didn't receive an official middle name during a > baptism. I have seen baptism records in which the boy's middle name was > the same as his mother's maiden name. If it was Smith, he could later > be referred to as John S. Van Buren, but a lot of people would not know > his real middle name. In that case, he could be recorded as John N. Van > Buren if they knew his father's name.> > Junior is another interesting part of a name. If two men in a village > had the same name, the younger one would often be called Jr. even if he > was not related to the other man by the same name.> > Cliff Lamere> > > > ====NY-Albany Mailing List====> Check out the mailing list's website at:http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/Albany/> Add/check your Albany surnames on the Surname Registry.> -------------------------------> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYALBANY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. http://windowslive.com/explore?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_allup_explore_022009