[Facts] Re: Dutch names - for Larissa, or anyone else who knows . . .
in reply to a message by Chrisell
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...
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...