Hello, I'm Willem Rabbeljee, live in The Netherlands and are searching the origins of my surname. RABBELJEE (the Dutch phonetic rendering of: RABBELIER) is not a authentic Dutch name, and I would firmly state that the origin therefore must be outside the Netherlands. There are two main possibilities: a french soldier stayed in Groningen (northern part of the Netherlands:more or less the home of the about 20 families presently living in The Netherlands -all related closely) while Napoleon was enjoying the beautiful sceneries of Elba, or, we are talking about the widespread Huguenottes. I'm fresh at genealogical matters, I started a month ago, and till now I traced a direct line to my g.g.g. grandfather, who died in 1802 at Nijmegen,(Neth.) His name was JOANNES RABBELIER. I searched the local library, consulted some University Libraries and have put a query in a Belgium list, regarding the name RABBELJEE/RABBELIER or close equivalents. The name seems not to be known. The only names I have found that come close are: RAPELYE RAPELJE DE ÉRAPALI I found all three of them in an old book about heraldics& surnames: ARMORIAL GENERAL, TOME II When I started looking in the United States (many Huegenottes went there in 1600 to New Netherlands) I traced quite a lot of RABBELIER resembling names like Raparlier, Rapalie,de Rapalje, Rapleyea. Rappelyea. When I checked with the submitters I found out that all these names were pronounced: Rah-pell-yah. All these variations are pointing out to two or three possible ancestors: JEAN DE RAPAREILLIET, GASPARD COLET DE RAPALJE and JEAN RAPARLIER, all three living between 1550-1600, mostly situated in the former southern Netherlands around the cities Valenciennes. These days the French Departement du Nord. Most documents I received where talking about movements France >Netherlands> New Netherlands, but some documents are talking about JEAN RAPARLIER moving to the Belgian colonies in Southampton/Sandwich/Canterbury and Norwich in the UK Does any of the readers possess any information about these names? I apologize for the length of the letter! With friendly greetings, Willem Rabbeljee