If you live in the Netherlands, you know at least one de Jong. It is the most common Dutch last name, followed by Jansen and de Vries, according to a count of the whole population by the Meertens Instituut, the Dutch research institute for language and culture (the latest full top 100 is from 2007).
Dutch surnames are fun for learners because most of them are just Dutch words: a job, a place or a family link. Once you know the words, you can read a Dutch phone book like a story.
The 10 most common Dutch last names
| # | Last name | Say it like | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | de Jong | duh YONG | the young one: the son, to tell him apart from his father |
| 2 | Jansen | YAHN-sun | son of Jan |
| 3 | de Vries | duh VREES | the Frisian, someone from Friesland |
| 4 | van den Berg | fahn dun BERKH | from the hill |
| 5 | van Dijk | fahn DAIK | from the dike |
| 6 | Bakker | BAH-kur | baker |
| 7 | Janssen | YAHN-sun | son of Jan (the double s spelling) |
| 8 | Visser | VIS-sur | fisherman |
| 9 | Smit | SMIT | smith |
| 10 | Meijer | MAY-ur | steward who ran a farm for a landlord |
Count Jansen and Janssen together and the Jansens are actually the biggest family in the country. The double s spelling is simply a different way to write the same name.
Three kinds of Dutch last names
- Son of: Jansen is the son of Jan, Pietersen the son of Pieter. De Jong (the young one) also comes from telling a son apart from his father.
- A place: van Dijk lived by the dike, van den Berg by a hill, de Vries came from Friesland. Van simply means "from".
- A job: Bakker (baker), Visser (fisherman), Smit (smith), Meijer (a steward who ran a farm for a landlord), Mulder (miller).
Why did everyone need a last name?
For centuries many Dutch people did not have a fixed family name: you were Jan, son of Pieter, and your son was Klaas Jansz. That changed under French rule. In 1811 Napoleon's government required everyone to register a fixed surname. There is a famous story that people picked silly names like Naaktgeboren (born naked) as a joke, thinking the French would leave soon. It is a fun story, but historians say it is mostly a myth: names like that usually existed long before 1811.
Van, de, van der: the little words
These small words are called tussenvoegsels, literally "in-between words". Two rules help you write them correctly in the Netherlands:
| Situation | Write it like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| After a first name or initial | lowercase | Jan van Dijk, J. de Jong |
| Without a first name | capital letter | meneer Van Dijk, mevrouw De Jong |
| In an alphabetical list | sort by the main word | Dijk, J. van (under D) |
In Belgium the rules are different: there, the Van in a name is often always written with a capital letter and sorted under V.
Say your own name in Dutch
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| Wat is uw achternaam? | What is your last name? (formal) |
| Mijn achternaam is de Vries. | My last name is de Vries. |
| Kunt u dat spellen? | Could you spell that? |
| Met een kleine d of een hoofdletter? | With a small d or a capital? |
Curious about first names too? Read the most popular Dutch girl names and the most popular Dutch boy names.
Want to hear these names out loud and use them in real sentences? Practise with our Dutch WhatsApp Buddy, or take the free Dutch level test to see where you stand.