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ArchivesDutch surname origin question
I've been told that my surname(Meeuwen)is the plural of the word meeu,which means "seagull" in Dutch.Can anybody verify this for me?
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Replies
Meeuwen
Hi,
you are right, meeuw means seagull in Dutch.
The word is a very old Germanic bird name.
Middle Low German: mewe
Dutch: meeuw
Old English: mæw
Old Islandic: mar
German: Möwe
Frisian: meau or mieu
It's probably a word describing the sound of a screaming seagull
I've found these informations in "Duden - Das Herkunftswörterbuch", a German book about the etymology of German words.
Regards
Judith
Hi,
you are right, meeuw means seagull in Dutch.
The word is a very old Germanic bird name.
Middle Low German: mewe
Dutch: meeuw
Old English: mæw
Old Islandic: mar
German: Möwe
Frisian: meau or mieu
It's probably a word describing the sound of a screaming seagull
I've found these informations in "Duden - Das Herkunftswörterbuch", a German book about the etymology of German words.
Regards
Judith
1
That's right, BUT.....
.... there are also other possibilities about the origin of the Meeuwen surname!
Check the 'Meeuwsen' surname in the database for this: "derived from the Dutch given name Meeuw, which comes from Bartholomeus (see Bartholomew)."
Also, Meeuwen is a place in the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands, hence the surname Van Meeuwen, so it could also be that the 'Meeuwen' surname is a variant of Van Meeuwen.
I'm Dutch and since I've added quite a lot surnames that are alike the Meeuwen surname (see database), I will further investigate this surname and add it to the database later on.
Regards,
Lucille
.... there are also other possibilities about the origin of the Meeuwen surname!
Check the 'Meeuwsen' surname in the database for this: "derived from the Dutch given name Meeuw, which comes from Bartholomeus (see Bartholomew)."
Also, Meeuwen is a place in the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands, hence the surname Van Meeuwen, so it could also be that the 'Meeuwen' surname is a variant of Van Meeuwen.
I'm Dutch and since I've added quite a lot surnames that are alike the Meeuwen surname (see database), I will further investigate this surname and add it to the database later on.
Regards,
Lucille
1