Girls' names Print E-mail

Traditional Dutch names for girls included the following abbreviated forms (the longer forms would be used in official documents):

An (< Anna), Bets, Els (< Elizabeth), Dien (< Berendina), Mien (< Wilhelmina), Nel (< Cornelia),  Rie (< Maria), Til (< Mathilda), Truus (< Geertruida).

These were quite popular until some 50 years ago, but then they were found too austere, and slowly gave way to more modern name forms. Diminutives with -y, -ie, and -ke replaced the short names, e.g. Anneke, Anke, Annie, Betty (< Elizabeth), Coby (< Jacoba), Henny (< Hendrika), Ineke, Hanneke/Joke (< Johanna!), Marijke/Marieke/Mieke (< Maria), Tineke, Tiny, Trudy

Many names were introduced from foreign languages. From French and Italian were adopted (only with minor changes in spelling and pronunciation): Angela, Angelique, Antoinette, Babette, Bianca, Brigitte, Caroline, Chantal, Daniëlle, Jacqueline, Jeannette, Joëlle, Laura, Lisa, Louise, Manon, Marianne, Mariëtte, Melanie, Miranda, Monique, Natalie, Nicole, Patricia, Paula, Rachel, Renate, Renee, Silvia, Yvonne.

Other names were introduced from Scandinavian languages, such as Astrid and Ingrid, and from Slavonic languages, such as Anoushka, Maroesja, Nadia, Natasja, Sasja, Tanja.

Combinations/mixtures of old names also became popular: Annemarie, Anneliese, LiselotteMarloes.

From the late 1960s onwards English names became more popular: Cindy, Emily, Gwen, Jennifer, Jessica, Kimberley, Lucy, Nancy, Wendy. 'Hippy-like' Dutch names also started appearing, e.g. Bloem ('flower'), Madelief ('daisy'), Merel ('blackbird').

Some popular girls' names (ignoring the ones obviously copied from foreign movie stars) are: Anouk, Emma, Esther, Femke, Ilse, Inge, Iris, Jasmijn, Kim, Linda, Maaike, Mariska, Melissa, Mirjam, Rianne, Sanne, Saskia, Selma.

[to be expanded]

© DutchToday 2007



 
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