Snellen is a

Dutch surname Dutch names consist of one or more given names and a surname. The given name is usually gender-specific. Dutch given names A Dutch child's birth and given name(s) must be officially registered by the parents within 3 days after birth. It is not u ...

. ''Snel'' means "quick" in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

and the original bearer of the name may have been a lively person. However, the origin of the surname often was patronymic, as Snel and Snelle were short forms of the archaic Germanic given name Snellaard (which originally meant "lively and strong").Snellaard
at the Corpus of First Names in The Netherlands People with this surname include: *

Herman Snellen Herman Snellen (February 19, 1834 – January 18, 1908) was a Dutch ophthalmologist who introduced the Snellen chart to study visual acuity (1862). He took over directorship of the Netherlands Hospital for Eye Patients (Nederlandsch Gasthuis vo ...

(1834–1908), Dutch ophthalmologist * (born 1970), Dutch astronomer * (1840–1907), Dutch meteorologist and explorer of the Arctic * Pieter Cornelius Tobias Snellen (1834–1911), Dutch entomologist *

Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven Samuel Constant Snellen van Vollenhoven (18 October 1816, Rotterdam – 22 March 1880) was a Dutch entomologist. He is not to be confused with Pieter Cornelius Tobias Snellen another entomologist from Rotterdam. He was curator of the entomologic ...

(1816–1880), Dutch entomologist

References

{{surname Dutch-language surnames Patronymic surnames

See also

References