Patronymic (Dutch: patroniem)

+3 votes
176 views

Patronymics (Dutch: patroniemen)

First I'll introduce the term:
A patronymic is something that was often used before the existence of the 'last name'.
For instance, my first name is 'Eesger' and the name of my father was 'Willem'. So if I was born in The Netherlands before the year 1811 I would have been known as 'Eesger Willems' (short for Eesger, son of Willem)

The patronymic was often (but not always!) written down on the birth certificate. And almost always mentioned later on in life (upon marriage, christening, death etc)

Now the interesting part:
In my opinion the patronymic is a predecessor of the last name made obligatory by Napoleon in the early 18-hundreds in The Netherlands. But it absolutely isn't the same as the last name, but is also absolutely not a second first name. Also (as mentioned) the patronymic isn't always mentioned in the birth certificate.

Thus chances are good the patronymic isn't very well used here at WikiTree.

In my opinion there should be an extra field included in WikiTree for the patronymic.

This because, when the distinction is made, it seriously helps defining the person as it helps in making the person unique. Just as the last name does, but in a bit more "loosely" kind of way (as the patronymic changes ;)

I am building a genealogy program, and the "find doubles" function seriously improved when I started using a separate field for the patronymic, so I think it would improve WikiTree also.

On 26 Mar 2023 Ludwig Kraayenbrink wrote on Toering-99:

Hi Eesger, Thanks for your email. The patroniem in dutch names I only enter then if they are part of the burth record and this I entered in the "Proper First Name" field e.g. "Ale Jacobs". In the "Preferred Name" field I enter "Ale". The "Last name at birth" field is "Toering". I understand when a dutch female marries the person e.g. Grietje Touring keeps her maiden name so the "Current Last Name" field is "Toering" and not her husband surname. Hope this helps. Ludwig - Wikitree greeter volunteer

in Genealogy Help by Eesger Toering G2G Crew (840 points)

1 Answer

+2 votes
Consistent with what Ludwig Kraayenbrink's message to you indicates, the convention here at Wikitree is to treat the patronymic name.as the last name at birth if the person had no other last name, and include it as part of the given name if the person also had a family surname.

See WikiTree's naming conventions at Help:Name Fields and follow the links in that page for details the special naming conventions adopted by projects like Netherlands and New Netherland.
by Ellen Smith G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
Ehmm

So, if I had no last name I would have existed at WikiTree as (?):
first name: Eesger
last name: Willems

But the family name "Willems" also exists.. but my family name isn't Willems, I simply don't have a family name, I am Eesger, son of Willem?

A partonymic is "more" then a (second) first name as it tells something about the father, but "less" then family name, since chances are a child, nor a grandfather will have that same "last name"..
Unfortunately WikiTree doesn't have a patronymic field and probably won't get one. Therefore we have had to make it fit into the existing name fields.

When you enter Willems in a last name field, because you don't have a family name, then that as correct as we can get. Note that family name and last name can have different meanings.
Koen,

Now the patronymic is "upgraded" to a family name and that is better then a second frist name.. but it isn't the best solution..

But you are probably right..

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