[Facts] Re: Dutch names - for Larissa, or anyone else who knows . . .
by Mirjam (guest)
3/26/2004, 10:56 AM
I'm from Holland, so you'd think that I should know... but I don't.
Liesbeth and Marjan are pronounced LEES-bet and MAR-yahn, and I have never heard names pronounced LYZ-beth and MY-ann.
Also, about the "called name"-thing. It is true that it it quite common in Holland (though less so than it used to be) to have a "called name" that is different from your birth names. Sometimes it doesn't even look like it at all. You often see BAs like this (especially among more "tradional" people):
Johannes Petrus Hendrikus
We call him Niels.
I am not a fan of this...
I'd like to add that most people in Holland do NOT have 3 of 4 "christian" names, most people have 2 names, just like most people in America. I believe that catholic people generally get more names than protestant or non-religious people, but I might be wrong about that. Most people in Holland are not christian at all, so it would be strange for them to have "christian" names...