15th Century Dutch Names

by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Uckelman)

revised version © 2004-2006, 2009, 2012-2013 Sara L. Uckelman; all rights reserved
last updated 06Jun13

Introduction

The source for these names is Bronnen voor de economisch geschiedenis van het Beneden-Maasgebied: Tweede deel, Rekeningen van de Hollandse tollen, 1422-1534, a collection of Dutch trade documents with listings from 1422 to 1534. I have collated the given names found in these documents, and organized them here alphabetically. After each name, I have listed the years from the sets of data that each name was found in. This article has the names from the following lists:

Gorinchem, 1422
Schoonhoven, 1432-33
Gorinchem, 1478
Gorinchem, 1478-81
Schoonhoven, 1478-81 (S)
Gorinchem &Schoonhoven, 1481-1488
Gouda &Spaarndam, 1497-1500
Gorinchem &Schoonhoven, 1518
Geervliet, 1531-32

Because the nature of these documents makes it hard to tell when two entries of the same name are the same people or different people, I have not been able to do a frequency survey of the names found. As a general rule, though, any name that is found in more than six of the lists is probably fairly common. While the people listed in these documents are primarily men, there are a handful of women in the records.

A couple of notes on the organization: I have put c and k together, j and y together, and f and v together;these letters were virtually interchangeable in medieval Dutch. Asterisks (*) mark pet forms and diminutives. Forms marked with a question mark (?) are not identified as feminine names, but most likely are.

I have listed the surnames on a separate page.

Feminine Names

Masculine Names

References

Van der Schaar, J., Woordenboek van Voornamen: inventarisatie van de doop- en roepnamen met hunetymologie (Utrecht & Antwerpen: Aula-Boeken, 1967)