New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesRe: What does my last name mean?
in reply to a message by VanSlambrouck
Van is the dutch equivelent of Mac, ap, Mc or O' and roughly means "child of". Slambrouck would have been the given (first) name of one of your male ansestors before surnames became heireditory. hope that helps a little towards discovering the meaning.
1
Replies
No that's not true...Yes, Van is often used as a preposition to verbs "He fell OF the table" with 'of' being the right translation of "Van", so you can say 'that's the child OF him' with "of" referring to "Van", but Van doesn't mean child of...In Holland, when you have child named after you which appears in surnames, it would be Zoon, as in Davidszoon, Scheepszoon, Jongerszoon etc. But it is NOT used by adding Van to a surname...:)
1