Theerasak Photha schreef: > On 10/10/06, Piet van Oostrum <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>>>>>> Roel Schroeven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (RS) wrote: >>> RS> It's the same here in Belgium. Except that our Van is with a capital V >>> in >>> RS> most cases; if it's a lower v it either indicates nobility or a Dutch >>> name. >>> RS> I don't see it as a problem. I prefer having Van Straeten and Van >>> Stralen >>> RS> next to each other than having them mixed up with names without Van like >>> RS> this: >>> RS> Straeten, Van >>> RS> Straetmans >>> RS> Stralen, Van >> In Holland it is sorted without the 'van' 'de' etc. > > Which was my original point in mentioning similar Portuguese names. :) > > BTW, do Dutch/Flemish family names now follow the trend of dropping > declension, as seen in both languages (dialects?) in general: e.g., > 'de' instead of 'der'?
My observation is that in general names keep hanging on to archaic forms much longer than normal language. Examples: - A very common name around here is Hendrickx. In normal language, the 'ckx' construction is replaced with 'ks'. - 'Straat' (English: 'street') (or 'straten' in multiple) used to be written 'straet' ('straeten'); in names it is still written like that: 'Verstraeten' is a common name. 'Verstraten' exists too though, but is less common I think. But I can't think of that many names with 'der', so maybe the declensions have been dropped already. -- If I have been able to see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants. -- Isaac Newton Roel Schroeven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list