When Dutch people arrived in England, Canada or other English-speaking countries over the centuries, often their names were changed. This was done to make the name easier to write and remember, or changed by accident because the immigration officers did not how to spell the name and wrote it down phonetically. For this reason, a single family name can often be found in many different spellings in different documents. For example, names derived from occupations get translated in such cases as Bakker becoming Baker, Kuiper becomes Cooper, and Konings becomes King. Or huis becomes -house, -kamp becomes -camp. For example ‘Nijenhuis’ becomes ‘Newhouse’.

Commonwealth Family History Research has Dutch-English translation skills if anyone needs assistance. Just send us a message.