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.
Collation and capitalisation of names in the Dutch language is different in the Netherlands and Belgium.
- In the Netherlands, 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, orWaals, Johannes van der. The 'v' is written in lower case, except if the first name or initials are omitted, in which case it is capitalised, as in 'de schilder Van Gogh' ('the painter Van Gogh'). - In Belgium Eric Van Rompuy is filed under 'V'.[1] The 'V' is always capitalized.
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 (Dutch: vanderwaalsstraal) the 'v' is usually not capitalised.
The prefixes are in some names concatenated to each other or to the name proper, as in Vandervelde.
