SOUTH AFRICAN SURNAMES

The Dutch East India Company recruited soldiers, sailors and workers from many other places besides Holland. Many of these recruits were from neighbouring countries, especially Germany. Today, this can still be seen, especially amongst the Afrikaans people, in surnames such as WAGENAAR, SMIT, MEYER, KRUGER, HOFMEYR, SCHUTTE, etc... President Paul KRUGER used the umlaut in his surname (KRÜGER), a very German custom.

South African surnames have their origins in countries such as Norway, France, Russia, Ireland, Greece, Scotland, Lithuania, India, Malaysia, Belgium, Indonesia, Switzerland and many others. Truly “one world in one country” or the “rainbow nation”!

Remember that surnames were often incorrectly spelt and even changed in early records and there can be various spellings of a particular surname. The surname COETZEE has many variations including KOETZEE, KOTZE, COETZER, COETZE and KOETSEE. This can create havoc when following an individual’s paper trail! Even first names have this habit. The French surname of RETIFS became RETIEF, PINARD became PIENAAR and LOMBARDS became LOMBAARD.

When surnames started becoming popular, many were derived from occupations. SCHOEMAN was a shoemaker, VORSTER or FOSTER was a forestry worker, MULLER was a miller, PELSER was a furrier, KRUGER was the keeper of the krug or inn, POTGIETER was a pottery caster and DE KLERK was a clerk. A Portuguese surname that is today common in the Afrikaans people is FERREIRA (meaning a blacksmith).

Place names were another favourite when it came to surnames in the beginning. In Afrikaans the word “van” means “of” or “from”. The VAN DER MERWE’s take their surname from a river in the south of Holland, the Merwede. The surname VAN KEULEN is “from Cologne” in Germany. VAN RENSBURG is also in Germany. France has also contributed to South African surnames, some being DELPIERRE, TERREBLANCHE, MARAIS, DU TOIT and DU PLESSIS.

The Italians brought the PISANIE surname, meaning one from Pisa. The English surname of CORY, is believed to be derived from the town of Cordy in Lincolnshire.

Most slaves at the Cape were given names by the slave-traders or their owners. Slaves owned by the VOC often retained versions of their real names, usually misspelt by the officials, such as Sao Balla, Revotes Kehang or Indebet Chemehaijre. Privately owned slaves were generally called Anthony, Jan, Pieter, Anna or Catrijn. Biblical names like Titus and Rachel were also given. Others were named after the months of the year especially April, September and October. Using the calendar months was another common naming custom and surnames like September still exist today. Slaves’ first names were often followed by their place of origin, as in Paul van Malabar (Paul of Malabar) or Lisbeth van Bengalen (Lisbeth of Bengal). Those slaves born in the Cape usually had van de Kaap (of the Cape). Those whose first names proved difficult to pronounce were given new names, either after their owner (Jan, Anthony...) or after mythology (Apollo, Adonis...).  With the abolition of slavery in 1835, many of the slaves kept their given names.