Noord Is Common. Our Last Name Is Not by Jodi M Noord.Het Leven In Nederland

Thought I would write a bit about U.S. citizens living in the Netherlands with a Dutch last name. It causes some confusion among the Dutch people, which is kind of fun to watch. But before I get into that I want to explain the Dutch meaning of our last name, Van de Noord.

If you write our name in the original Dutch form, it would be three words as written above, and it means “of the north” or “from the north.” When I was first married, I wrote the name in two words, Vande Noord. But in my last 10 years or so of marriage, I have started making the whole name just one word. It is so much easier for Americans to work with a one-word last name. Computers also have a much easier time alphabetizing and categorizing my name in one word. And those working with computers don’t have to ask if there is a space in the name and where that space is placed in order to find it.

As I said, for me it is a married name, so I don’t know all the details of how my husband’s ancestors wrote it, or what province they were from, or when they moved to the United States. But I do know that the word “noord” is very common in the Netherlands to this day. Because it means “north”, I see it all the time on signs, which is a strange feeling. In my mind, Noord went from a weird last name in America to commonly used word in the Netherlands. I have some examples in the pictures below.

Here the road sign is referring to the Center (Centrum) in Goes. A person would turn left if he or she wanted to visit the north side of the city center. But at first it was strange for me to see my last name on such a common sign as this!

The road sign here is showing the way to the north side of Bergen Op Zoom, which believe it or not, is the name of a city not far from Goes.

I took this picture on a road trip. We were passing by Rotterdam, but the sign was telling travelers the way to the north side of Rotterdam. And also the way to Nijmegen and Utrecht.

Notice in these pictures that the Dutch language places the direction after the city name. In English we would probably write “North Rotterdam” or say the “north side of Rotterdam”. But the Dutch language writes Rotterdam-North, or Centrum-North.

Here is the name of a street, Noordstraat. What town doesn’t have a North Street? I have noticed that Dutch street names are often all one word. They don’t separate the name of the street from the word street. Thus Noordstraat, and the street we live on is Adriaanstraat.

Not sure if you can see this sign very well, but it is referring to a tunnel that combines my married and maiden names – Heinenoord Tunnel. It is on the way to Belgium. The most perfect name ever. 🙂

The brown section of the sign points the way to the shore, or the North Sea Coast.

Ok, so you get the drift. The word Noord is used often in every day life in the Netherlands. It has just taken me by surprise and I was slightly enamored for awhile with my last name “in lights.” The novelty is starting to wear off now. And my husband was never impressed by it. Oh well.

Our Full Last Name Is Not So Common

Here’s a fun little story for you. When my husband was applying for his residence permit so he would work in the Netherlands, he had drive to Den Bosch for an in person appointment. The man who met with my husband Jeremy told him that when he saw the name Jeremy Vande Noord on the schedule for that day, he had to meet him. The man’s last name was Vander Noord, one letter different than our last name. Mr. Vander Noord said he had to meet the man with a such a similar last name, because that name was very rare in the Netherlands. He doesn’t run into it often. So I’m now curious who this small “Noord” family originally was and why there isn’t many of them around anymore.

Americans with a Dutch last name Living In the Netherlands

It has been interesting to see the Dutch folks reaction to my last name. Usually their first impression of either myself or Jeremy is that we are American. They can tell that quickly and easily by the way we talk. Ok, so they have Americans in their midst. Probably not the first time. But if we have to give them our name for any reason, they pause, probably for a couple of reasons.

The first reason might be because it is an unusual Dutch last name. They might wonder where that one originated or what part of the country it is currently from. But I doubt this is their first thought.

Their first thought is “How did this come about? You speak such strong American English but have a strong Dutch last name?”

I was registering at the gym and really got the attention of one of the trainers with my last name. He asked if my last name was written in one, two or three words. I told him nicely I didn’t care how he put it in the computer. He asked “Is your man Dutch?” Meaning, “Is your husband Dutch?” He thought I married a citizen of the Netherlands. I said probably, but he isn’t a Dutch citizen, he is American. The trainer looked at me like I had two heads. I briefly explained that my husband is from a small town in the middle of the U.S. that was founded by Dutch people over 200 years ago. I followed up with the fact that many of the people in the town have Dutch last names. His eyes were wide and his brows were narrowed. “Really?!” he said, and stared for a few seconds. I didn’t get the feeling he believed me. Oh well.

I also had to explain myself in Dutch class. We each had to introduce ourselves. I said my name and that I was from the United States. “Wait. You have a VERY Dutch last name. Yet you don’t know the language and are a foreigner. Why is that?” So I explained again that I grew up in a small town in the middle of the country that was founded by Dutch people. Many people in the town and surrounding area have Dutch last names. My words were again met with silence, staring, and slight confusion. These ladies were fairly quick to believe me though.

While I am in the Netherlands...

So I guess my next steps would be to figure out the history behind the last name. I am really curious what province the name is most common in, if any. I will research where Jeremy’s grandpa came from too. That way I can explain to the locals where the name came from and how it got to the United States. One might guess that the locals would be able to explain it to me. But that definitely is not the case. They are more confused than I am. 🙂