KoopmeinersDutch, German Perhaps derived from koop "purchase, buy" and meiners "mine." An alternate interpretation is that "meiners" could be derived from the German word miner.
OudelandDutch Habitational name from places called Oudeland in the Netherlands, or perhaps the village of Oudelande in the Dutch province of Zeeland. Their names mean "old land" in Dutch.
GansGerman, Dutch Means "goose" in German and Dutch, either an occupational name for someone who worked with geese, a habitational name for someone who lived by a sign depicting a goose, or a nickname for someone walked oddly or was considered silly or foolish... [more]
De CatersDutch Nickname for someone thought to resemble a tom cat, derived from Middle Dutch cater, kater literally meaning "tom cat".
RochussenDutch Means "son of Rochus". Famous bearers of this name are the Dutch prime minister Jan Jacob Rochussen (1797-1871) and the 19th-century painter Charles Rochussen (1814-1894).
CorsonDutch (Americanized, ?) From the given name of Cors Pieters, a sailor with the Dutch West Indies Company, who arrived in the Dutch Colony, New Amsterdam (present day New York), on or before 1638... [more]
Van Den VondelDutch Means "from the small wooden bridge", derived from a dialectal variant of Dutch vonder meaning either "narrow bridge" or "plank bridge". This name was borne by the Dutch playwright, poet, literary translator and writer Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679).
MastGerman, Dutch Derived from Middle High German and Middle Dutch mast "mast (fodder made of acorns and beechnuts); the process of fattening livestock", an occupational name for a pig farmer or a swineherd. In some cases, however, the German name may also have been derived from Middle High German mast, mastic "fat, stout".
Van De LeestDutch, Flemish Derived from Dutch leest meaning "last, boottree", a tool used by shoemakers to shape boots. This can be either an occupational name for cobblers, or a habitational name from the settlement of Leest, itself possibly named for a field in the shape of a boot.
MalefeytDutch (Archaic) Archaic Dutch surname that is now no longer in use (not in this exact spelling, that is): the spelling reflects the surname's origin from older times (as -eyt is an exclusively archaic spelling that has not survived into modern times like its counterparts -eit and -ijt did)... [more]
Van HeukelomDutch, Belgian Denoted someone from any of several places Heukelom or similar, derived from Old Dutch *hukila "hill, elevated place" and hem "home, settlement".
De GroeveFlemish Etymology uncertain. Possibly a habitational name from any of several places called De Groeve, derived from groeve "quarry, pit; excavated watercourse"... [more]
Den HartogDutch Derived from Dutch hertog "duke", a nickname for someone behaved in a haughty manner, or an occupational name for someone who worked for a duke’s household.
KortlandDutch From any of the places in the Netherlands called Kortland, which means "short land."
TeneyckDutch (Americanized) From Dutch ten eik meaning "at the oak tree", a topographic name for someone who lived by a prominent oak tree. This has been a prominent family name in Albany, NY, area since the 1630s.
HeemskerkDutch From the name of a small town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands, possibly derived from the personal name Hemezen (itself possibly a diminutive form of the element heim) combined with kirke "church".
De RuiterDutch Means "the rider" in Dutch, derived from Middle Dutch ruter "freebooter, vagrant, robber", later meaning "cavalryman, soldier, armed horseman". It could also be a nickname based on an event, in one case deriving from an incident involving a ride on a runaway pig.
Van KleefDutch Means "from Kleef", a toponym derived from Middle Dutch cleve "cliff".
VuurmanDutch Means "fire man" in Dutch, an occupational name for someone who burned patches of forest land, or who worked in a fire brigade.
ReizigerDutch, Dutch (Surinamese) Derived from Middle Dutch reisiger meaning "traveller, voyager", ultimately from Middle High German meaning "soldier on horseback". It is notably borne by the Dutch former soccer player Michael Reiziger (1973-).
van BeethovenFlemish Means "from the beet fields", a variant of Beethoven. A famous bearer of this name was German Clasical composer Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827).
HaverbusYiddish, Dutch Means "blessed friend", from Hebrew חבר (haver) and ברוך (baruch) "blessed".
Van BijsterveldtDutch Means "from the waste land", derived from Middle Dutch bijstervelt meaning "waste land, chaffing and infertile land". Dutch politician Marja van Bijsterveldt (1961-) bears this name.
MastinFrench, Flemish, Walloon occupational name for a household servant or guard from Old French mastin "watchdog, manservant" (from Latin mansuetudinus "domestic"). The Old French word had the further sense of a bad-tempered dog and was used as an adjective in the sense of "bad cruel".
KeymolenFlemish Derived from the place name Keimolen, itself probably derived from Middle Dutch key "cobblestone, boulder" and molen "mill".
SmuldersDutch Occupational name derived from Dutch des mulders meaning "son of the miller". A famous bearer is Canadian-American actress Cobie Smulders (1982-).
LeeuwenkampDutch Possibly from an unknown place name meaning "lion's camp" in Dutch.
TabakDutch Occupational name for a butcher or hog breeder, from Middle Dutch tucbake composed of tucken "to pull, push, strike" and bake "hog, pig; meat from the back of a pig".
SpringerGerman, English, Dutch, Jewish Nickname for a lively person or for a traveling entertainer, from springen "to jump, to leap". A famous bearer was Ludwig der Springer (AKA Louis the Springer), a medieval Franconian count who, according to legend, escaped from a second or third-story prison cell by jumping into a river after being arrested for trying to seize County Saxony in Germany.
Van OoijenDutch Means "from Ooijen" in Dutch, the name of a hamlet in Limburg, Netherlands, as well as several other settlements derived from Middle Dutch ooy "floodplain, wetland, meadow in the bend of a river".
Van Den BoschDutch Means "from De Bosch" or "from the woods", derived from Middle Dutch bosch "forest, wood".
Van Der ZandenDutch Means "from the sand", most likely given to someone who lived near sandy grounds. It originated in the southeastern part of the Netherlands.
GroenewoudDutch Derived from a place name meaning “green wood”.
KernGerman, Dutch, Jewish from Middle High German kerne "kernel, seed pip"; Middle Dutch kern(e)keerne; German Kern or Yiddish kern "grain" hence a metonymic occupational name for a farmer or a nickname for a physically small person... [more]
BootDutch, German Patronymic form of Bode, derived from either Old High German boto "messenger, envoy" or the related bot "command, order".
EggenkampDutch Probably from Dutch eggen "to harrow, to plough" and kamp "field".
HoogteijlingDutch Habitational name from Hoogteilingen, derived from hoogh "high" and the toponym Teijlingen, from Old Dutch *tagla "tail, narrow ridge".
BlydenburghFlemish Derived from a habitational name from Blijenberg (formerly Bleidenberg) in Brabant, Belgium. (Also Van Blydenbergh)
HeroldEnglish, Dutch, German From the given name Herold. This was the surname of David Herold, one of the conspirators in the Abraham Lincoln assassination plot.
LoosDutch, Frisian From an obsolete term meaning "artful, clever, insightful".
BrandsDutch, German Patronymic from the given name Brand, derived from Old Dutch brand "fire, sword, torch" or a name containing the element.
BraafheidDutch, Dutch (Surinamese) Means "braveness" in Dutch, derived from braaf meaning "brave, well-behaved, obedient" and the suffix -heid denoting a condition or state of being. This was originally a nickname for a strong or brave person... [more]
BloemenDutch, Flemish Means "flowers, blooms" or "flour" in Dutch. Can be a nickname denoting beauty or a cheerful disposition, an occupational name for a gardener, miller, or baker, or a habitational name for someone who lived near flowers, or a sign depicting them... [more]
SchilderDutch Means "painter" in Dutch, derived from Middle Dutch schildere "shield painter" (from schilt "shield"), originally denoting someone who painted coats of arms on shields. An occupational name for someone who painted houses, shields, or anything else.
AppelmanDutch Occupational name from Middle Dutch apelmanger "apple seller".
AalderinkDutch Habitational name from any of several farms, derived from the older form Alardink meaning "Alard’s place".
WarnsGerman, Dutch Patronymic form of the Germanic given name Warn (see Warin). Alternatively, a habitational name from various Frisian places likely named using the same or similar elements.
GeerDutch From Dutch geer "tapering piece of land" (compare Garland). Can also be a shortened form of Van Den Geer.
RumfeltGerman, Dutch Altered spelling of German Romfeld, derived from Middle Low German rüm- meaning "to clear (land)" and feld meaning "open country, field", hence a topographic name or possibly a metonymic occupational name for a person engaged in clearing woodland, or in some cases a habitational name for someone from Romfelt in the Ardennes... [more]
OranjeDutch Means "orange (colour)" in Dutch, in reference to the Dutch Royal Family, who in turn derive their name from the town of Orange (or Auranja) in France, first attested as Arausio in the first century... [more]
Van BarneveldDutch Means "from Barneveld", a town in the Dutch province of Gelderland.
De WolfDutch, Flemish Means "the wolf", a nickname given to someone associated with wolves in some way, or a habitational name for someone who lived by a sign depicting a wolf. Could also be a patronymic form of Wolf.
RothuizenDutch Means "red houses" in Dutch, a habitational name.
TimmGerman, Dutch, English English: probably from an otherwise unrecorded Old English personal name, cognate with the attested Continental Germanic form Timmo. This is of uncertain origin, perhaps a short form of Dietmar... [more]
Van IersselDutch Variant of Van Iersel. A famous bearer is the former Dutch soccer player Kees van Ierssel (1945-).
Van Der GeerDutch Means "from the headland", derived from Dutch geer "pointed piece of land, headland; spear".
ZwaanDutch Means "swan" in Dutch. Could be a nickname for a person who resembled a swan in some way, an occupational name for a swan keeper, or a patronymic derived from a given name containing the element swan... [more]
MeeboerDutch (Rare) Possibly an occupational name for someone who brewed or sold mead, from Dutch mede (also mee) "mead" and boer "farmer, peasant; merchant, producer (of a product)".
PijlDutch Means "arrow, projectile" in Dutch, an occupational name for an archer or fletcher.
KlingDutch Occupational surname meaning "blade" in Dutch, referring to a person who made knives. A Dutch cognate of Messer.
Van GilsDutch Means "from Gilze" in Dutch, a village in North Brabant, Netherlands. Possibly derived from a cognate of Old Norse gil "gap, ravine, gully".
BolDutch From Dutch bol "ball, sphere" or "bun, roll, round piece of bread or pastry", possibly an occupational name for a baker, a habitational name for someone who lived by a sign depicting a ball or globe, or a nickname for a bald man, or perhaps a ball player.
BurgerEnglish, German, Dutch Status name for a freeman of a borough. From Middle English burg, Middle High German burc and Middle Dutch burch "fortified town". Also a German habitational name for someone from a place called Burg.
VonkDutch Means "spark" in Dutch, a metonymic occupational name for a smith, or possibly a nickname for a lively or fiery person.
BeilenDutch Habitational name from a village in Drenthe, Netherlands, possibly related to Old Germanic *bagil- "swamp, marsh".
BergkampDutch, German From the name of various places in the Netherlands and Germany, derived from Old Dutch and Old High German berg meaning "mountain" and kamp meaning "field". This name is borne by Dutch former soccer player Dennis Bergkamp (1969-).
KoelewijnDutch Derived from Dutch koel "cool, cold" and wei "whey", a metonymic occupational name for a dairy farmer. Altered by folk etymology to mean "cool wine". Can also derive from a place name.
Van Den OeverDutch Means "from the riverbank" in Dutch, derived from oever "bank, riverbank, shore". Den Oever is also the name of a village in North Holland.
MotteFrench, Walloon, Flemish, German from old French motte "motte" a word of Gaulish origin denoting a man-made protective mound or moat surrounding a castle or other fortified strongholds; or a habitational name from any of the various places in France and in Belgium named with this word.... [more]
OosterweghelDutch Derived from the Dutch words ooster "east" and weg "road".
Van BommelDutch Means "from Bommel", a city now called Zaltbommel, in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. A famous bearer is the former Dutch soccer player Mark van Bommel (1977-).
WannemacherGerman, Dutch Occupational name for a maker or seller of baskets, particularly winnowing baskets or fans, derived from Middle High German wanne literally meaning "winnowing basket" and macher meaning "maker"... [more]
GeusDutch Derived from the given name Goswin, or possibly a short form of a name beginning with the elements god "good" or god "god".
Van TienhovenDutch Means "from Tienhoven", the name of several villages in the Netherlands. Their names mean "ten parcels of land" in Dutch. A famous bearer was the Dutch politician Gijsbert van Tienhoven (1841-1914), a Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
Van HeutszDutch (Archaic) A bearer of this name is J.B. van Heutsz, also known as the Pacificator of Aceh, former governor general of the Dutch East Indies.
Van Der VestDutch (Archaic) Means "from the city wall, of the fort", derived from Middle Dutch veste "fortification, stronghold, castle; reliability".
Van ErpDutch Means "from Erp" in Dutch, a town in North Brabant, Netherlands, possibly derived from Old Dutch *apa "watercourse" and an unclear first element.
SlotboomDutch From a place name meaning "lock beam", a piece of wood used to close an opening.
De BoonDutch Variant of Boon with the etymological element De, literally 'of (a family called) Boon'.
BrasFrench, Dutch From Old French and Middle Dutch bras "arm". This was probably a descriptive nickname for someone with some peculiarity of the arm, but the word was also used as a measure of length, and may also have denoted a surveyor.
Van DoornDutch Means "of the thorns", a topographic name for someone who lived near thorn bushes, or in a settlement named after them.
RommelUpper German, Dutch Nickname for a noisy and disruptive person, from Middle Dutch rommel "noise, disorder, disturbance". Alternatively, a variant of Rummel.
Van HaitsmaDutch Habitational name for someone from Haitsma, a place in Friesland.
PosthumusDutch, Low German From a personal name which was given to a posthumous child, i.e., one born after the death of his father, derived from Latin postumus "last, last-born" (superlative of posterus "coming after, subsequent") via Late Latin posthumus, which was altered by association with Latin humare "to bury", suggesting death (i.e., thought to consist of post "after" and humus "grave", hence "after death"); the one born after the father's death obviously being the last.
SlaatsDutch Possibly a contracted form of Dutch des laats meaning "the serf", from Middle Dutch laets "serf, bondsman, freedman".
DelgerDutch Possibly an occupational name from an agent derivative of (ver)delgen, meaning “to nullify” or “to exterminate.”
MasseDutch Derived from Middle Dutch masse "clog; cudgel", this name might have been a metonymic occupational name for someone who wielded a club. In some cases, however, it may also have been a patronymic of Maas.
VreeswijkDutch Habitational name from a former village and municipality in the province Utrecht, Netherlands, derived from Old Dutch Frieso "Frisian" and wic "village, town"... [more]
StrykerDutch From Dutch Strijker, an occupational name for someone whose job was to fill level measures of grain by passing a flat stick over the brim of the measure, thus removing any heaped excess... [more]
BorneDutch Shortened form of the Dutch surname van den Borne, derived from Middle Dutch borne "well, spring, source". A habitational name for someone from Born in the province of Limburg (Netherlands) or from a place associated with the watercourse of the Borre river in French Flanders.
LentEnglish, German, Dutch Nickname from either Old English lencten meaning "spring season, springtime" or from Germanic langa-tinez meaning "long days" which refers to the increasing daylight of spring. Likely a nickname for someone who was born or baptized during springtime.
RondenDutch Possibly derived from Dutch rond meaning "round, circular".
NanningaFrisian, Dutch, German Derived from the given name Nanne, a short form of Germanic names containing the element nand meaning "daring, brave, courage"... [more]
Van HelmontBelgian, Dutch Possibly a variant of Van Helmond. Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580-1644) was a Belgian chemist, physiologist, and physician, considered as the founder of pneumatic chemistry.
LiemanDutch From a Germanic personal name composed of liut "people", or possibly liob "dear, beloved", combined with man "person, man" (see Liutman, Liefman).
DouwesDutch, Frisian From the given name Douwe, itself derived from Frisian dou meaning "dove, pigeon". A notable bearer was the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820-1887), better known by his pen name Multatuli.
VeermanDutch Means "ferryman, skipper" in Dutch, from veer "ferry". Alternatively, it could be an occupational name for a feather merchant or fletcher, derived from veer "feather, plume", a contracted form of the archaic veder.
MalinFrench, Flemish From the masculine given name Madalin, a short form of names composed of the Germanic element mahal "council, assembly, meeting" such as Madalbert.
HooglandDutch A toponoymic or habitational surname meaning "highland", derived from Middle Dutch hooch "high" and lant "land".
BayEnglish, French, Dutch Derived from Middle English and Old French bay, bai and Middle Dutch bay, all meaning "reddish brown". It was originally a nickname for someone with a hair color similar to that.
HelmeyerGerman, Dutch, Danish Derived from Middle Dutch meier "bailiff, steward; tenant farmer" and an uncertain first element.
Den BestenDutch Means "the best" in Dutch, from Middle Dutch beste.
Van DrielDutch Means "from Driel" in Dutch, referring to either the village Driel or any of several other settlements containing driel as an element... [more]
van EssenDutch Means "from Essen" in Dutch, the name of a German city possibly derived from Old High German asc "ash tree".
HiemstraWest Frisian, Dutch Derived from West Frisian hiem "home" or the related Dutch Low Saxon hiem "farmstead, homestead" combined with the habitational suffix -stra.
PolmanDutch Variant of Pol using the element man "person, man" as a suffix.
KruipDutch Means "crawl, creep" in Dutch, possibly a nickname for someone known for skulking about.
Van Der VeldeDutch Means "of the field, from the field", from Dutch veld "field".
HoogendijkDutch Derived from Dutch hoog meaning "high, elevated" and dijk meaning "dike, ditch, levee", referring to someone who lived near a high dyke or embankment.
De HoogDutch Means "the high" in Dutch, derived from Middle Dutch hooch "high, tall; important, noble". Either a nickname for a tall person, or for someone who is high in rank or behaves as though they are, or a habitational name from a settlement built on relatively high ground.
LiemDutch Habitual surname for Lieme in Eastphalia, which is from lim meaning "mire".
LockEnglish, Dutch, German Habitational name from any of various places derived from Old English loca meaning "(locked) enclosure, stronghold".
Van Der KlokDutch Means "from the bell", from Middle Dutch clocke "bell; bell-shaped", a habitational name for someone who lived near a bell tower, or perhaps a sign depicting a bell.
KloosterboerDutch Occupational name derived from Dutch klooster meaning "monastery, convent, cloister" and boer meaning "peasant, farmer".
LieshoutDutch Originally indicated a person from the village of Lieshout in the province of North-Brabant, Netherlands. It is possibly derived from either Dutch lies meaning "great manna grass" (a grasslike plant that grows near riverbanks and ponds) or Middle Dutch lese meaning "track, furrow", combined with hout meaning "forest".
Van OtterlooDutch Means "from Otterlo", a village and former municipality in Gelderland, possibly derived from Dutch otter "otter" and lo "pool".
HuitemaDutch Possibly a patronymic form of Hoite, a pet form of names containing the element hugu "mind, thought, spirit", using the Frisian suffix -ma "man of".
DuysterDutch Derived from Middle Dutch duuster meaning "dark, gloomy, obscure" or "stupid, terrible".