Tussenvoegsel

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A tussenvoegsel, in Dutch linguistics, is a word that is positioned between someone's first name and last name, but is still a part of someone's full surname. In the English language, it may be referred to as an independent prefix. The most common tussenvoegsels are "Van" (as in Van Weert) and "De" (as in De Vries). Not all Dutch surnames include tussenvoegsels.

In the Netherlands, these tussenvoegsels are strictly speaking not a part of someone's last name. For example, in the Dutch telephone directory the surname is "De Vries" is listed under "V", not "D". Therefore in Dutch databases tussenvoegsels are recorded separately. This often simplifies finding a Dutch surname in a Dutch database, because including the tussenvoegsel would result in many surnames being listed under "D" and "V". In Belgium surnames are collated with the full surname including tussenvoegsels. "De Clerck" comes before "Dossche".

According to Dutch language rules in the Netherlands, the tussenvoegsel in a surname is written with a capital letter only when it is not preceded by a first name. So a Peter whose surname is "De Vries" will be referred to as either "meneer De Vries" (Mr. De Vries) or "Peter de Vries". In contrast, according to Dutch (Flemish) language rules in Belgium, tussenvoegsels of surnames always keep their original orthography, as in meneer Van Der Velde, meneer P. Van Der Velde or Peter Vanden Velde.

Tussenvoegsels originate from the time that Dutch last names officially came into use. Many of the names are place names, which refer to cities (Van Weert, for example) or geographical locations (such as Van den Velde, or "of the fields"). The following list of tussenvoegsels includes approximate translations, some of which have maintained their earlier meaning more than others.

• aan (at)
• bij (near)
• de (the)
• den, der, d' (of the)
• het, 't (the)
• in (in)
• onder (below)
• op (on, at)
• over (over, beyond)
• 's (of the)
• te, ten, ter (of)
• tot (till)
• uit, uijt (out of)
• van, vanden (of, of the)
• ver (far)
• voor (before)

Combinations of these words are also common:

• aan de, aan den, aan der, aan het, aan 't
• bij de, bij den, bij het, bij 't
• boven d'
• 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
• van de, van den, van der, van het, van 't, van ter
• uit de, uit den, uit het, uit 't, uit ten
• uijt de, uijt den, uijt het, uijt 't, uijt ten
• voor de, voor den, voor in 't