How to enter a Dutch name re: Patronymics

Question

Hi everyone,

I tried to search for this question and apologize if it has been asked.  I have some Dutch ancestors I am entering who have patronymics and surnames.  What is the best way to enter that?  Does the patronymic go as part of the surname, as a middle name, or with the first name?  Thanks so much for the help!!

Answer 1

Here is the link to the Dutch Roots/Naming Conventions Project:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Dutch_Roots/Naming_Convention

Looks like it has a lot of information to digest, so it may take a while to get the hang of those conventions.

In the meantime, just post new questions if you need help with specific profiles or individuals who don't have profiles yet!

Comments

Thank you!

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Here is an example that I added: Van_Zwieten-17 (is van Zwieten in the profile but shows up with a capital 'V' in the ID.)  Her name is Yde Claasdr. van Zwieten.  I entered the first name as Yde Claasdr. and surname as van Zwieten, preferred name as Yde.  That seems to be what the Dutch Naming Conditions page recommends.  Making sure I'm reading it right.

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Yes K., you did it the way the Dutch Naming Conventions prescribe, with one tiny thing: punctuation is never part of the first name, so "Claesdr." should be "Claesdr", without the period. "Claesdr" is a patronymic, meaning Claesdochter (Claesdaughter), so her father's first name would be Claes.

And by the way: the concept of middle name is unknown in the Netherlands, so it should never be used, and the radio button "no middle name" should be activated. Multiple given names are recorded in the proper first name field.

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Thanks, Jan-I changed that.  Good to know about the middle name field-luckily enough, I didn't do that.