Introduction
Dutch first names are confusing for foreigners. Nevertheless some knowledge of the naming patterns can be helpful during your genealogical research.

Naming patterns
Knowledge of the naming patterns is important. Until the 1960's children were often named after their relatives, especially their grandparents. For example, my official first names are Maria Wilhelmina. My maternal grandmother was Maria, my maternal great grandmother was called Wilhelmina. But my parents chose another name for the everyday life: Miriam.

The above mentioned example is not exactly following the classical Dutch naming pattern. In the old days it was very usual to name the first born son after the paternal grandfather, and the first born daughter to the maternal grandmother. The second son got the name of the other grandfather, and so on. You will notice that the classical model provides two names for sons and two for daughters. Often that was enough. If a child died at an early age, the next baby of the same sex got the first name of his deceased sibling. A family with only daughters maybe gave the third girl the female version of her grandfather's first name.

Male or female
Female names are often easy recognizable by the suffix -je or -a. Maartje, Trijntje, Neeltje, Cornelia, Maria and Anna are all women names. Several names have a male and a female version:

Cornelis or Kees - Cornelia, Cornelisje or Neeltje 
Johannes or Jan - Johanna or Jantje 
Nicolaas or Klaas - Klaasje or Klasina 
Hendrik - Hendrika or Hendrikje 
Wilhelmus or Willem - Wilhelmina or Willempje

By the way, locally there were big differences. In Frisia the names were not the same as in Limburg. There is enough literature available, but of course in Dutch. Feel free to mail me your questions or contact another Dutch genealogist.

How Trijntje became Kate

Dutch emigrants sometimes changed their first names. Of course the male name Thijs was not very practical in the USA, because nobody can pronounce the Dutch vowel ij properly. So Thijs became probably Matthew. This may not sound logical to you, but Thijs is an abbreviation of Matthijs, and that is Matthew in English. But other people just chose an English name, with no relation at all to their original name.

To conclude a short list to assist you. First the Dutch forms, followed by English names:

Jan - John 
Petrus, Pieter, Piet - Peter, Pete 
Thijs, Matthijs - Matthew Dirk - Richard 
Klaas, Niek - Nicholas, Nick 
Teunis - Anthony 
Hendrik - Henry Catharina, Trijntje, Kaat - Catherine, Kathryn, Kate 
Elisabeth, Bets, Bep, Lijsbet - Elisabeth, Liz Maria, Maartje, Marie, Rie - Mary

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