A tussenvoegsel (pronounced [ˈtʏsənˌvuxsəl]) in Dutch linguistics is a word that is positioned between a person's first and last name. The most common tussenvoegsels are "van" (as in Dick van Dyke) meaning "from" and "de" (as in Greg de Vries), meaning "the". Most Dutch surnames include no tussenvoegsel (as in Mark Rutte and Wim Kok).
The use of tussenvoegsels differs between the Netherlands and Belgium.
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In the Netherlands, these tussenvoegsels are not included when sorting alphabetically. For example, in the Dutch telephone directory the surname "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".
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 or initial. So referring to a Peter whose surname is "De Vries" we write "meneer De Vries" (Mr. De Vries), but "Peter de Vries" and "P. de Vries".
In Belgium (as Francophone surnames rarely have tussenvoegsels) surnames are collated with the full surname including tussenvoegsels. "De Smet" comes before "Dossche".
In contrast to Dutch orthographic rules, in Belgium tussenvoegsels always keep their original orthography, as in meneer Van Der Velde, meneer P. Van Der Velde or Peter Van Der Velde.[1]
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 Coevorden, 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.
Combinations of these words are also common. For example: