Archive for December, 2010
What’s in a name: the Vandenberg family name
Friday, December 17th, 2010
Republican senator from Michigan.
Helped form the United Nations.
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
Vandenberg is a very common American surname with Dutch roots. Several prominent Americans carry this surname, such as: Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg (republican senator from Michigan), Kim Vandenberg (swimmer), Hoyt Vandenberg (second Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force), there even is a rock band called Vandenberg. However, though many of you may recognize the name, I bet few of you know what it actually means…
In Dutch, the name Vandenberg is actually written Van den Berg, “van” and “den” being separate particles that come before the actual name “berg”. It is also pronounced very differently, as you can hear here.
Literally, Van den Berg translates as “from the mountain”. The name is what we call a toponymic, that is, a name that refers to a certain landmark close to where somebody lived. Toponymics are a very common type of Dutch surname: Van der Veer (of the ferry), Vermeer (of the lake), Verhoek (from the corner), Verhoef (from the farmstead) are just a few examples. Note that whenever a name starts with “van”, “ver” or “van der” (which are all variants of each other, meaning “from”, “of” or “of the”), you are probably looking at a toponymic surname.
Of course, one may wonder how on earth any Dutchman could end up with a name meaning “of the mountain” in a country as flat as the Netherlands. Most of the country lies below sea level and the highest elevation in it is the Vaalsberg in Limburg which is 322 meters high (1056 feet). You can hardly call that a mountain. Nevertheless, the Dutch do. Moreover, they are inclined to call any elevation that catches the eye a mountain. To illustrate this: there is a small elevation of 12 meters (39 feet) in Friesland that is called the Hogeberg, which translates as “the high mountain”.
It is clear that in a country as flat as the Netherlands any minor elevation stands out. This could explain the popularity of the Van den Berg name. Today, there are about 60,000 people carrying the name in the Netherlands making it one of the most common names. Of course these people are not all related, many families took on the name independently from each other because they happened to live close to an elevation of some sort.
Would you like to read more about Dutch surnames? Read our in-depth article on Dutch surnames: Making Sense Of Your Dutch Surname.
How far is far away?
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Interior of a towing barge in 1760.
Photograph Wikimedia Commons
The other day I hopped in the car with my husband and kids to pay a visit to grandpa and grandma in Holland’s southernmost province of Limburg. The trip took us two hours on a smooth, well-lit highway. During the drive, my thoughts wandered off to my ancestors, as they regularly do. I wondered how they would have experienced this trip?
My ancestors from the 1700s probably never made such a trip. They lived, married, and died in Amsterdam, possibly without ever setting a foot outside the city. Traveling to the south of Limburg at that time would have been a huge undertaking, especially if you lacked the money to get yourself a carriage, a horse, or a ticket on a “trekschuit” (horse-drawn barge). If you had to walk the 215 km (135 miles) from Amsterdam to Heerlen, it would take you at least a week. On horseback or by barge you could do it in two or three days.
Moreover, it would have been an expensive trip. You needed to pay for a carriage, a horse, or a barge. And even if you just walked, you would have to pay several nights lodging and food. Going by barge would have been the most comfortable, although you would have to change barges several times. Going by road was a dusty or muddy business, depending on the season. On top of that, it could be dangerous with bandits lurking in the woods to rob you of your money. Last but not least, you would not be earning any money for the duration of your trip.
I tried to image what trip today would cost me at least a week, a lot of money and could be potentially dangerous. Going cross-country on a mountain bike from my home to Bavaria (700 km, 430 miles). Or maybe a one week hike through the Blue Mountains or Yosemite National Park. And that would not even get seriously dangerous.
So if going to the south of my country felt like a cross-country trip of a week, then what most my sailing ancestors have felt when they set sail for months to the Dutch East Indies, facing storms and pirates? I guess it would be like going to the moon knowing that there were evil aliens along the way that could attack your spaceship. That thought gave me a glimpse of how brave my ancestors captains Rutger and Henri Grivel must have been. And that made me extremely proud of them…
