Van (Dutch)
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- The correct title of this article is van (Dutch). The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
van is a preposition in the Dutch language, meaning 'of' or 'from'. It is also a common prefix in Dutch surnames - specifically, a "tussenvoegsel" — as in Vincent van Gogh or George Vancouver. It can appear by itself or in combination with another prefix, such as van de, van der and van den. The German 'Von' is a cognate of Dutch 'van' but unlike the German 'von', the Dutch 'van' is not an indication of nobility.
In Dutch, names starting with 'van' are filed under the initial letter of the following name proper, so van der Waals is filed under 'W', thus; Waals, van der, Johannes.
Capitalisation of the initial 'v' varies. In Dutch names it is written in lower case, with two exceptions, at the beginning of a sentence or if the first name or initials are omitted, in which case it is capitalised, as in 'de schilder Van Gogh' ('the painter Van Gogh'). However, in practice the latter rule is not always followed. In Belgium, however, the names are always capitalised. In some anglicised versions of Dutch names (e.g. Dick Van Dyke, Martin Van Buren) or in the case where the word is not of Dutch origin, as in Vietnamese names (e.g. Duong Van Minh, Nguyen Van Thieu) it is always capitalised. In terms like van der Waals radius the 'v' is usually not capitalised.
The prefixes are in some names concatenated to each other or to the name proper, as in Vandervelde.
Other Dutch name prefixes are de, meaning 'the', and ter.
