# Tussenvoegsel

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Dutch family name affix

In a [Dutch name](/source/Dutch_name), a ***tussenvoegsel*** (Dutch pronunciation: [\[ˈtʏsə(ɱ)ˌvuxsəl\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Dutch) [ⓘ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nl-tussenvoegsel.ogg); lit. 'intersertion' or 'that which is interserted') is a [family name affix](/source/Family_name_affix) positioned between a person's [given name](/source/Given_name) and the main part of their [family name](/source/Family_name).[1] There are similar concepts in many languages, such as [Celtic family name prefixes](/source/Celtic_onomastics#Surname_prefixes), [French particles](/source/French_name#Particles), and the [German *von*](/source/Von).

The most common *tussenvoegsels* are *[van](/source/Van_(Dutch))*, e.g. [Vincent van Gogh](/source/Vincent_van_Gogh) meaning "from"; and *de*, e.g. [Greg de Vries](/source/Greg_de_Vries), meaning "the". A *tussenvoegsel* forms an integral part of one's surname; it distinguishes it from similar Dutch surnames, e.g. Jan [de Boer](/source/De_Boer) compared to Albert [Boer](/source/Boer_(surname)); Frits [de Kok](/source/De_Kok) compared to Wim [Kok](/source/Kok_(surname)).

## History

*Tussenvoegsels* originate from the time that Dutch surnames officially came into use. Many of the names are place names, which refer to cities, e.g. Van Coevorden ("from [Coevorden](/source/Coevorden)"), or geographical locations, e.g. [Van de Velde](/source/Van_de_Velde) ("of the field"). The list of *tussenvoegsels* mentioned below includes approximate translations, some of which have maintained their earlier meaning more than others.

## Usage

See also: [Van (Dutch) § Spelling conventions](/source/Van_(Dutch)#Spelling_conventions)

### Netherlands

In the Netherlands, these *tussenvoegsels* are not included when [sorting alphabetically](/source/Alphabetical_order).[2] For example, in the Dutch [telephone directory](/source/Telephone_directory), "[de Vries](/source/De_Vries)" is listed under "V", not "D". Therefore, *tussenvoegsels* in Dutch databases are recorded as a separate data field so as to simplify the process of locating it. Sorting by *tussenvoegsel* would result in many names being listed under "D" and "V".

In [Dutch grammar](/source/Dutch_grammar), the *tussenvoegsel* in a surname is written with a capital letter only when it starts a sentence or is not preceded by a first name or initial.[3] So referring to a professor named Peter whose surname is "de Vries", one writes "Professor De Vries", but when preceded by a first name or initial it is written using lower case, such as in "Peter de Vries" or "P. de Vries".

### Belgium

In [Belgian Dutch](/source/Dutch_in_Belgium), or [Flemish](/source/Flemish_dialects), surnames are collated with the full surname including *tussenvoegsels*.[4] "[De Smet](/source/De_Smet_(surname))" comes before "Desmet" in a telephone book. Although [French family names](/source/French_name#Surnames) commonly also use *tussenvoegsels*, those are frequently contracted into the surname, e.g. turning Le Roc into Leroc, or La Roche into [Laroche](/source/LaRoche_(surname)), and thus explaining the collation preference.

In contrast to [Dutch orthography](/source/Dutch_orthography), Belgian *tussenvoegsels* always keep their original orthography, e.g. *meneer Van Der Velde*, *meneer P. Van Der Velde*, or *Peter Van Der Velde*.[5]

### Other areas

In areas outside the [Low Countries](/source/Low_Countries), *tussenvoegsels* are typically capitalized and used in sorting (as in Belgium). In areas where multi-word surnames are unfamiliar, to avoid confusion the *tussenvoegsels* are often [concatenated](/source/Concatenation) to the name proper to form single-word surnames, as in "[Vandervelde](/source/Emile_Vandervelde)", "Vandenberg", and "Dewitte". Sometimes a surname of this sort will retain capital letters for each of the component words, such as "DeJong", "[VanHerck](/source/Glen_D._VanHerck)", or even "[VanDerBeek](/source/Sara_VanDerBeek)".[6] Dutch family names in [South Africa](/source/South_Africa), e.g. [Van der Merwe](/source/Van_der_Merwe), follow Dutch rules.

## Common *tussenvoegsels*

[Rijksdienst voor Identiteitsgegevens](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rijksdienst_voor_Identiteitsgegevens&action=edit&redlink=1) [[nl](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rijksdienst_voor_Identiteitsgegevens)] provides a list of *tussenvoegsels* coming from various languages (e.g., 'della', 'Unter', etc).[7]

af – "off", "from" aan – "at" bij – "near" de – "the" (but de can also be French for "of".) den, der, d' – "of the" het, 't – "the" in – "in" onder – "under", "below" op – "on", "at" over – "over", "beyond" 's – "of the", "from" (genitive) 't, te, ten, ter – "at" tot – "until", "to", "at" uit, uijt – "from", "out of" van – "from" voor – "to" Combinations are also common: aan de, aan den, aan der, aan het, aan 't bij de, bij den, bij het, bij 't in de, in den, in der, in het, in 't onder de, onder den, onder het, onder 't over de, over den, over het, over 't op de, op den, op der, op het, op 't, op ten van de, van den, van der, van het, van 't, van ter, ver uit de, uit den, uit het, uit 't, uit ten voor de, voor den, voor in 't

## See also

- [List of Dutch family names](/source/List_of_Dutch_family_names)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Hoitink, Y. (10 April 2005). ["Prefixes in surnames"](https://www.dutchgenealogy.nl/prefixes-in-surnames). Dutch Genealogy. Retrieved 15 August 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Hoitink, Y. (13 August 2013). ["Dutch term: tussenvoegsel"](https://www.dutchgenealogy.nl/tussenvoegsel). Dutch Genealogy. Retrieved 15 August 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Nynke van der Sluis / Nynke Van der Sluis"](https://onzetaal.nl/taaladvies/hoofdletters-namen-nederland). *[Onze Taal](/source/Onze_Taal)* (in Dutch). 11 May 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Patsy Van der Meeren / Patsy van der Meeren"](https://onzetaal.nl/taaladvies/hoofdletters-namen-belgie). *[Onze Taal](/source/Onze_Taal)* (in Dutch). 11 May 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["*Voorvoegsel / tussenvoegsel*"](https://onzetaal.nl/taaladvies/voorvoegsel-tussenvoegsel). *[Onze Taal](/source/Onze_Taal)* (in Dutch). 7 May 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-brians_6-0)** Brians, Paul (25 May 2016). ["multipart names"](https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/25/multipart-names/). [Washington State University](/source/Washington_State_University). Retrieved 11 June 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** [Tabel 36 Voorvoegsels](https://publicaties.rvig.nl/media/13287/download)

## External links

- The dictionary definition of [*tussenvoegsel*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/tussenvoegsel) at Wiktionary

v t e Personal names and anthroponymy Personal name Birth name Given name Surname patrilineal matrilineal affixes nobiliary particle By sequence Given name list Middle name Surname list By trait Diminutive Double-barrelled Epithet animal common plant Eponymic Matronymic Metonymic Mononymic Occupational Patronymic surname Sobriquet Teknonymic Toponymic surname Patrial Unisex Virtue By life situation Aptronym Bardic name Birth name Code name Maiden and married names Necronym Posthumous name Temple name Placeholder name Notname Regnal name Slave name Pseudonyms (list) Art name bugō Nicknames list hypocorism list of monarchs nom de guerre Pen name heteronym Ring name shikona Stage name list list of mononyms Username By culture (surnames) East Asia (Sinosphere) Chinese art courtesy generation titles Hong Kong Formosan Japanese Amami Okinawan Korean Vietnamese Northern Asia and Central Asia Kalmyk Manchu Mongolian Sakha Tibetan West Asia / Middle East and North Africa Afghan Arabic Azerbaijani Berber Coptic Hebrew Mandaean Pashtun Persian Somali Tatar Turkish Oceania Australian Aboriginal Fijian Hawaiian Māori Vanuatuan Sub-Saharan Africa Ashanti Congolese Eritrean and Ethiopian Ewe Ghanaian Igbo Rwandan Yoruba Zimbabwean Europe, Americas and Australasia (Western world) Baltic Latvian Lithuanian Celtic Cornish Irish Manx Scottish Welsh Germanic Dutch English American African-American Canadian German Gothic Icelandic Scandinavian Swedish Romance French Italian Occitan Portuguese Roman praenomen nomen cognomen agnomen Romanian Spanish Hispanic America Catalan Slavic Bulgarian Croatian Czech East Slavic Belarusian Russian Ukrainian Kashubian Macedonian Polish Serbian Slovak Suffixes Uralic Estonian Finnish Hungarian Other Albanian Armenian Basque Georgian Greek ancient Cypriot South Asia and Southeast Asia (Indosphere) Balinese Bengali Bhutanese Burmese Filipino Indonesian Chinese Javanese Cambodian Malaysian Mizo (Lushai) Indian Lao Pakistani Sindhi Sinhalese Tamilian Thai By religion Christian biblical papal russian orthodox clergy saint Buddhist surname Dharma Jewish Hebrew surname Mandaean Theophoric Manners of address (list) Of authority and of honour Styles Honorific diplomatic imperial, royal, and noble judiciary religious ecclesiastical Pre-nominal letters Suffix emeritus Post-nominal letters academic orders, decorations, and medals Titles Academic Imperial, royal and noble chivalric courtesy false hereditary subsidiary substantive Military professional Academic educational honorary Corporate Diplomatic Judicial Religious ecclesiastical papal Related traditions Baptism Name day Calendar of saints Related Acronym Anonymity Anthropomorphism personification national Call sign Deadnaming Endonym and exonym Family Galton–Watson process Legal name name change Namesake Naming taboo Nomenclature nomen nescio Misnomer Onomastics -onym Personal identity identifier Proper noun Signature monogram royal cypher khelrtva signum manus tughra Surnames by country

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tussenvoegsel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussenvoegsel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussenvoegsel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.