van Coevorden / van Coeverden

Started by Private User on Sunday, July 25, 2010
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Private User
7/25/2010 at 3:27 AM

I am interested if anyone can give any information on the Dutch surnames of van Coevorden and van Coeverden. The difference between the two versions is whether the letter after the "v" is an "o" or an "e".

On Geni at the moment, through simple search:
- There are 573 people who match a search for van CoevOrden
- There are 58 people who match a search for van CoevErden

Even within the same family there are people recorded with both variations of the surname. See for example

http://stenenarchief.nl/genealogie/gezin/humo1_nort/F3813/I42274

where siblings are listed with both variations.

Is there a reason why some have the O while others have the E? Does it represent some deliberate difference? Did some people deliberately choose a different surname to distinguish themselves from others?

Or is one just a typo - either in originally recording the birth name or just in entering online? Is one "right" and one "wrong"?

There is a city called Coevorden - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coevorden
So van Coevorden would mean from Coevorden. Interestingly, to add to the confusion, there is no van Coevorden wikipedia page, but there is a van Coeverden wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Coeverden which says:

Van Coevorden is one of the oldest aristocratic families from the Netherlands. The family's history begins with Hendrik van Borculo who in 1231 married Eufemia, a daughter of the lord of Coevorden. The grandson of this couple, Reinolt, started to call himself van Coeverden. From this time onwards till the 17th century, the family played an important role in the region of Drenthe. His descendants still carry this name and belong to the Dutch nobility. Some branches were granted the title of baron; others are Jonkheer.

So there is a mix of the E and O even on that Wikipedia page.

Any informed input will be appreciated!

7/25/2010 at 4:07 AM

Hi David.....both are correct. In fact there are 2 more variations: van Koeverden and van Goeverden.

In 1811 when last names had to be registered (Napoleon) some last names were registered by 'Dutch officials' so the spelling was Dutch. In other cases it was by Provincial officials and so it had a Provincial spelling.

My last name "Sieswerda" is also "Sijswerda". Dutch spelling of Fries spelling. When first being used it sometimes showed up within one Family spelled both ways. One member with one spelling and another with the other spelling.

There is an institute that looks at Dutch names etc. Sometimes quite helpful.

www.meertens.knaw.nl

see this link:
http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfb/detail_naam.php?gba-naam=van Coeverden&nfd_

Private User
7/25/2010 at 4:19 AM

Wijtze William: many thanks for that, and for the link to het Meertens Instituut.

I appreciate that when surnames are introduced you can have family members with different surnames. Also on moving country, registration officials can make mistakes, or names can be changed to fit a new country. For example, many times the long European names have been shortened.

In this case, my case in point is

http://stenenarchief.nl/genealogie/gezin/humo1_nort/F3813/I42274

and similar, where siblings born within a few years of each other in the early 1900s in the city of Coevorden have different variations shown. Would those be genuinely different?

7/25/2010 at 4:31 AM

David - I suppose they would be genuinely different if they are registered that way.
Up until a few years ago you could not change the registered spelling of your last name in Holland.
That has now been changed. For example: in the last name 'Sijswerda' the "ij" is equal to "y"......so now those with the Sijswerda spelling can legally change it to Syswerda.

Private User
7/25/2010 at 4:39 AM

This is all very interesting. Would there be a reason why siblings might be registered like that with different surname variations?

7/25/2010 at 4:46 AM

Nothing logical that I can think of......except that one 'registrar' spelled it one way and the next 'registrar' spelled it the other way. Once entered it was a done deal.

7/25/2010 at 5:28 AM

Agreed with above, just spelled it one of the other way.

In cause of David van Coevorden see this: http://www.drenlias.nl/sidc8f394b6fb0d7e1c4302629dffa018ec/index2.p...
for his son see:
http://www.drenlias.nl/sidc8f394b6fb0d7e1c4302629dffa018ec/index2.p...

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