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Help[Facts] Niesje- How to pronouce?
Niesje was the name given to my 14x great grandmother. Does anyone know anything about this name? She was born about 1548 in Belgium but I think she was actually Dutch. Thanks.
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Replies
I'd pronounce it like NEES-yuh (the -je being a diminutive ending, therefore the s and the j are pronounced as different letters and not as /sh/).
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Like Quill already mentioned, the name Niesje is a diminutive form of Agnes in the Netherlands. However, in some cases, it can also be a diminutive form of Dionisia / Dionysia. Both are names that are in use in the Netherlands, although neither are common (with Dionysia being the most common out of the two):
- http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Dionysia
- http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Dionisia
In Dutch, both names are pronounced as: dee-aw-NEE-see-ah.
By the way, would you mind terribly if I ask why you believe that your ancestor was Dutch instead of Belgian? Not that Belgium and the Netherlands actually existed in their current form back in the 16th century, but still. At the time, Dutch was widely spoken in what is now Belgium - and it still is today, albeit predominantly in a specific region called Flanders. As a result, the Dutch spoken there is often referred to as Flemish.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanders
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish
So, your ancestor having a Dutch first name doesn't necessarily have to mean that she or her family were originally from any area that is now part of the modern-day Netherlands. :)
- http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Dionysia
- http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/Dionisia
In Dutch, both names are pronounced as: dee-aw-NEE-see-ah.
By the way, would you mind terribly if I ask why you believe that your ancestor was Dutch instead of Belgian? Not that Belgium and the Netherlands actually existed in their current form back in the 16th century, but still. At the time, Dutch was widely spoken in what is now Belgium - and it still is today, albeit predominantly in a specific region called Flanders. As a result, the Dutch spoken there is often referred to as Flemish.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanders
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish
So, your ancestor having a Dutch first name doesn't necessarily have to mean that she or her family were originally from any area that is now part of the modern-day Netherlands. :)
This message was edited 9/27/2015, 9:42 PM
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I think the closest (English) phonetic spelling would be NEE-shə. The "s" is more part of the first syllable than the second, though (As a Dutch person, I see the name divided into the syllables Nies and je, -je being a diminutive suffix)
See also
http://www.behindthename.com/name/niesje/submitted
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/niesje (in Dutch, but I can translate if you want)
See also
http://www.behindthename.com/name/niesje/submitted
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/naam/is/niesje (in Dutch, but I can translate if you want)
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Shame you can't load the second link - it's mostly graphs and charts, so there's not much Dutch there. What I can tell you is that 1497 living women have it as their first name right now, and 636 as (one of) their second name(s). That's 0.0202% and 0.0086% of the population (I don't know if that's female population or entire population). No men bear the name. It's very rare at this point in time, and even in 1880 (the records don't go further back) only 71 newborn girls were named Niesje (http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/populariteit/absoluut/vrouw/afbeelding/naam/Niesje). Currently it's most popular from the city of Rotterdam up to the province Drenthe (http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/verspreiding/absoluut/vrouw/afbeelding/naam/Niesje). For its etymology it directs back to Agnes. I can't find any stats about Belgium, though.
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Thanks! That was still helpful.
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"even in 1880 (the records don't go further back) only 71 newborn girls were named Niesje"
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I should point out to you that this is only an estimated number. The actual number of newborn girls named Niesje in 1880 is 19.
I got the number from its page source (for Chrome - pressing Control+U to open up its page source, then finding the bit that says var steptotal_value_list = new , showing the actual numbers by year starting in 1880).
ETA: I didn't realise that the data before 1930 was incomplete, so forget about what I just said here.
"even in 1880 (the records don't go further back) only 71 newborn girls were named Niesje"
------
I should point out to you that this is only an estimated number. The actual number of newborn girls named Niesje in 1880 is 19.
I got the number from its page source (for Chrome - pressing Control+U to open up its page source, then finding the bit that says var steptotal_value_list = new , showing the actual numbers by year starting in 1880).
ETA: I didn't realise that the data before 1930 was incomplete, so forget about what I just said here.
This message was edited 10/11/2015, 1:08 PM
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