Genealogy is all about names: first names or given names, family names or surnames. When you are reading old documents, you will find ‘obscure’ names; names that nowadays are very, very uncommon. These ‘lost’ names are often difficult to read, because they do not make sense to us anymore. But what if a priest or Read more…
Tag: family names
Is Biden a common name in the Netherlands?
This 20th of January 2021 marks the day that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. There are a lot of articles on the internet that deal with his immediate family and his Irish ancestry. But it made us question whether this family name ever appeared in the Read more…
Unexpected First Names
A frequently heard from people who start with genealogy in the Netherlands is, what were popular naming conventions? In general we can say that the first son was often named after his paternal grandfather, the second son after his maternal grandfather. Likewise, the first daughter was named after her maternal grandmother, the second daughter after Read more…