At 17:35 25-1-02 -0500, John Gabriel wrote: >An odd question: >Does "Van Baardwijk" have an English meaning?
Yes. Normally the word "van" means "of" or "from". Used in a person's surname it usually means "from the town/city of". This dates back to the time when (IIRC) Napoleon decided that everybody should be registered. When asked who they were, my ancestors must have answered that they came from the town called "Baardwijk", and were then registered as "<first name> van Baardwijk". That town still exists, BTW. It is a few dozen kilometers from where I live. Jeroen _________________________________________________________________________ Wonderful World of Brin-L Website: http://www.Brin-L.com Tom's Photo Gallery: http://tom.vanbaardwijk.com
