New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesOrigin of surname Roelofse
I am trying to find out where the surname Roelofse originated.I am an Afrikaans person from South Africa.Many of the Afrikaans-speaking people here are descended from the Dutch, but there is a story in my family that the Roelofse-surname originated in Norway.I did some Internet research and found one person-Christiaan Roelofse-who came from Norway.I also found quite a few people with my surname in both the Netherlands and Germany.But that still does not explain from which country my ancestors came, or why the older people in my family claim we are of Norwegian descent.
1
Replies
Hi Polyglot. This is what I have been told. There are two "clans" of Roelofses in SA. The Knysna Roelofses (descended from the Netherlands) and the Wilderness/George Roelofses (who I have been told are from Norway, my dad swore by this). The two families are apparently unrelated. I am from the George clan and I believe so are you. My grandfather, Hendrik was the son of Rosina Stander and Frans Antonie Roelofse (if that helps) and they lived in Langvlei.
If this is your tribe and you want to continue reading, here we go. I have been tracking our ancestry a bit and it seems that Christiaan had a son, Hendrik and that Hendrik , had a Christiaan and so forth right up to my dad's generation (my uncle and grandfather were both named Hendrik), so I believe that this is my lineage (and possibly yours). My dad and uncle always said that Christiaan originally left Norway due to religious persecution, but I have no further knowledge and this could be a convenient family myth.
My theory is that possibly the surname was originally spelt Roelofsen and due to the prevalence of the Dutch at the time, it was misspelt in the official registers. A second theory that I have (not so nice) is that he didn't want to be found and changed his surname when he got to SA.
I see this post dates to 2008 and you are unlikely to read this, but I wrote this just in case it still helps you.
If this is your tribe and you want to continue reading, here we go. I have been tracking our ancestry a bit and it seems that Christiaan had a son, Hendrik and that Hendrik , had a Christiaan and so forth right up to my dad's generation (my uncle and grandfather were both named Hendrik), so I believe that this is my lineage (and possibly yours). My dad and uncle always said that Christiaan originally left Norway due to religious persecution, but I have no further knowledge and this could be a convenient family myth.
My theory is that possibly the surname was originally spelt Roelofsen and due to the prevalence of the Dutch at the time, it was misspelt in the official registers. A second theory that I have (not so nice) is that he didn't want to be found and changed his surname when he got to SA.
I see this post dates to 2008 and you are unlikely to read this, but I wrote this just in case it still helps you.
1
Hello, im Maryna (nee Roelofse) my dad is Hennie Roelofse, married to Aletta at the time. I don't know him or my family. Pls let me know if you have more infohtuuz
1
Our family name is Christiaan (on my mothers side of the family) and found it interesting that you noted Norwegian decent as Ive only ever known of The surname as being Netherlands
1
There are a few Roelofses in Norway but many, many more in the Netherlands as you can see at http://infobel.com/en/world/WorldTeldir.aspx?page=/eng/euro so the odds are that your ancestors came from Holland. However, only a genealogical study would definitely confirm or disconfirm this.
1
Thanks
Thank you for the information, it has been really helpful.
Thank you for the information, it has been really helpful.
1