Vanden Plas 3-litre first registered February 1961 2912cc.JPG

''Van'' () is a very common prefix in Dutch language surnames, where it is known as a ''tussenvoegsel''. In those cases it nearly always refers to a certain, often quite distant, ancestor's place of origin or residence; for example, Ludwig ''van Beethoven'' "from Bettenhoven" and Rembrandt ''van Rijn'' "from the Rhine". ''Van'' is also a preposition in the Dutch and Afrikaans languages, meaning "of" or "from" depending on the context (similar to '' da'', '' de'' and '' di'' in the Romance languages).

In surnames, it can appear by itself or in combination with an article (compare French ''de la'', ''de l). The most common cases of this are ''van de'', ''van der'' and ''van den'', where the articles are all current or archaic forms of the article ''de'' "the". Less common are ''van het'' and ''van 't'', which use the similar but grammatically neuter article ''het''. The contraction ''ver-'', based on ''van der'', is also common and can be written as a single word with the rest of the surname; an example being Johannes Vermeer (''van der meer'' "of the lake").

Names in other languages may contain a component "Van" that is unrelated to the Dutch preposition. The very common Vietnamese middle name " Văn", often spelled in English text without diacritics, as in " Pham Van Tra", is a male given name, implying education.

Related prepositions

The preposition "''van''" is the most widely used preposition in Dutch surnames, but many others are also used, although not always recognised as such if the whole surname is written as a single word. Just as "''van''" all these prepositions used to indicate geographical locations:
* ''te'' — meaning "at" (or/of towards), (or ''ter'' and ''ten'', being the old dative forms), ''e.g.'', '' ter Beek'' (of the stream)
* ''thoe/thor'' — being the old forms of ''te'' as in ''Thorbecke'' (meaning "at the brook")
* ''aan'' — meaning "at" or "aside" (also in combination ''aan de, aan den, aan het, aan 't''), ''e.g.'', ''aan de Stegge'' (meaning aside the road)
* ''op'' — meaning "on" (also in combination ''op de, op der, op den, op ten, op 't, op het''), ''e.g.'', as in Op den Akker (on the field)
* ''in'' — meaning "in" (also in combination ''in de, in den, in der, in het, in 't''), ''in 't Veld'' (in the field)
* ''bij''  — meaning "at" (exclusively in combination ''bij de, bij 't): ''Bij 't Vuur'' (at the fire)
* ''uit'' — or archaic uyt (uijt), meaning "out" or "from" (also in combination ''uit de, uit den, uit het, uyt de, uyt den, uijt de, uijt den, uijt ten''), ''e.g.'' Uytdehaage (from The Hague or from the hedge).
* ''over'' — meaning "over" or "from the other side" (also in combination ''over de''), as in Overeem (from the other side of the river Eem (river))
* ''onder'' — meaning "under" or "below" or "at the bottom" (also in combination ''onder de''), Onderdijk, Onderwater
* ''achter'' — meaning "behind" (also in combination ''achter de'') Achterberg (behind the mountain)
* ''bezuiden'' — meaning "south of": Bezuidenhout (south of the woods)
* ''boven'' — meaning "above" or "up": Bovelander (up in the land)
* ''buiten'' — meaning "outside" or "in the country": Buitenhuis (outside the house)
* ''voor''  — meaning "in front of", (also in combination ''voor de, voor den, voor 't, voor in 't'')
* ''zonder'' — meaning "without": Zonderland (without land) or Zondervan (without ''van'', e.g. without a surname beginning with ''van'')

Apart from these prepositions the prefix "de" (not a preposition but an article, meaning "the") is also very common. They indicate a property, quality or origin, as in "de Lange" (the tall one), "de Korte" (the short one), "de Kleine" (the little one), "de Groot" (the big one), "de Zwart", "de Wit", "de Rode" (the one with black, white, red hair or skin), "de Rijke" (the rich one). The most widespread Dutch family name is " de Vries" (the Frisian).

For Dutch people of French (usually Huguenot) origin whose ancestors never modified their surnames to fit Dutch norms, the prefix "''de''" is a French preposition similar in meaning to "''van''".

Spelling conventions

Collation and capitalisation

Collation and capitalisation of names differs between countries. In the Netherlands and Suriname, names starting with "''van''" are filed under the initial letter of the following name proper, so Johannes van der Waals is filed under "W", as: "Waals, Johannes van der" or "van der Waals, Johannes". The "v" is written in lower case, except when the surname is used as standalone (when the first name or initials are omitted), in which case it is capitalised, as in "''de schilder Vincent van Gogh''" and "''de schilder Van Gogh'' ("the painter Van Gogh"). In compound terms like "''de Van Goghtentoonstelling'' ("the Van Gogh exhibition") the "v" is capitalised, unless the connection between the person and the concept is or has become very weak.

In Belgium, any surnames beginning with "''Van''" or "''van''" are filed under "V". So for example Eric Van Rompuy