Samengestelde familienamen/combined last names in practice

For the English summary please see after the Dutch text.

Sinds 1 januari 2024 bestaat voor ouders de mogelijkheid om hun kinderen niet alleen de familienaam van één van de ouders te geven maar ook van beide ouders. Ongeveer een jaar geleden heb ik daar al eens een blog aan gewijd. Daarin heb ik aangegeven dat in de toekomst de mogelijkheden om te vernoemen alleen maar toenemen. Het wordt er daarmee niet overzichtelijker op maar het Ministerie van Justitie heeft vastgesteld dat er behoefte aan is dus ... En (mede) op basis daarvan is die nieuwe wet er gekomen.

NRC 1e zaterdag
van 2024

We zijn inmiddels een aantal maanden in het nieuwe jaar en ik ben heel benieuwd of deze nieuwe mogelijkheden al enthousiast in praktijk worden gebracht. Helaas heb ik geen inzicht in alle geboorten in Nederland. Ik moet het dus met een selectie uit mijn krant doen en dat is de NRC. Voor het gemak ga ik er maar van uit dat al die geboorten betrekking hebben op Nederlandse staatsburgers. Ik neem tenminste niet aan dat buitenlandse ingezetenen zich in dit opzicht aan de Nederlandse wet moeten houden. Ook hoort u mij niet zeggen dat de geboorte-advertenties, die, meestal elke zaterdag, in mijn krant gepubliceerd worden, representatief zijn voor alle Nederlandse geboorten. Maar de naamgeving is misschien wel een indicatie hoe jonge ouders met de nieuwe mogelijkheden omgaan.

Voor de goede orde, kinderen tooien met de naam van de moeder in plaats van met die van de vader, is al sinds 1998 mogelijk. Maar daar wordt niet merkbaar vaak gebruik van gemaakt. Dan nu de resultaten van dit zeker niet representatieve onderzoekje.

Tot en met 27 juli van dit jaar hebben er 236 geboorteadvertenties in de NRC gestaan. Niet altijd wordt in zo'n advertentie vermeld welke achternaam de boreling gaat dragen. Dat waren er in deze periode 78 ofwel 33%. Van de overigen zullen 140 babies (traditioneel) de naam van de vader dragen, het overgrote deel dus (59,3%). 9 kindertjes krijgen een samengestelde naam en wel die van de vader en de moeder (3,8%) zoals Julius hieronder.

Baby vernoemd naar zijn vader en moeder
Baby named after his father and mother

Ouders die hun kind naar de moeder en de vader vernoemen vormen een nog kleinere groep. In mijn verzameling vind ik er 3 (1,2%).

Baby vernoemd naar zijn moeder en vader
Baby named after his mother and father

Bij die drie babies zit nog één twijfelgeval. De lay out van de advertentie lijkt te suggereren dat 'Dickson' een voornaam is terwijl het ook de achternaam van de moeder is. Dus misschien bestaat deze groep maar uit 2 ouderparen die hun kind tooien met de gecombineerde namen van de moeder en de vader. En dan ga ik er voor het gemak maar vanuit dat het hier een kind met (ook) de Nederlandse nationaliteit betreft.

De 3e voornaam is gelijk aan de achternaam van de moeder
The last given name is equal to the mother's last name

Tot slot nog een iets grotere groep ouders die hun kind uitsluitend naar de moeder vernoemd hebben. Het zijn er 6 ofwel 2,5%. Deze mogelijkheid is niet nieuw en bestaat al sinds 1998.

Baby vernoemd naar de moeder
Baby named after his mother

Samenvattend kan gesteld worden dat de nieuwe mogelijkheden maar nauwelijks gebruikt worden. Zelfs wanneer je de 78 advertenties buiten beschouwing zou laten waaruit niet is op te maken welke achternamen de kleine draagt, dan nog maakt slechts 7,6% (12) gebruik van de nieuwe wet. Daarnaast zijn er nog 6 (3,8%) ouderparen die de wet van 1998 benutten. Al met al ben ik niet onder de indruk van de mate waarin de nieuwe mogelijkheden benut worden. Het lijkt in ieder geval nog niet op de door het Min. van Justitie (zie het eerdere blog over dit onderwerp) gesuggereerde 32%. Gelukkig maar, denkt de genealoog in mij.

English summary

Effective January 1, Dutch parents can name their newly born after both proud parents. Traditionally babies in The Netherlands are named after the father. Since 1998 parents can choose between the father's and mother's name. And now any combination of the two is allowed as well. In an earlier post, I explained the extended possibilities of this new law. 

According to government officials, there is a need for this modification. 32% of all respondents to a government-sponsored questionnaire reacted positively to the possibility of naming their child after both parents (rather than after one of them). 

Since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I looked at the birth announcements published in my newspaper NRC* since the beginning of this year. The result was no surprise.

Until last Saturday a total of 236 ads were published. Ignoring 78 ads where only the babies' given name(s) were mentioned, the following emerged.

- named after the father: 140/88.6% (traditional)

- named after the father and mother: 9/5.7% (possible since 2024)

- named after the mother and father: 3/1.9% (possible since 2024)

- named after the mother: 6/3.8% (possible since 1998)

All in all less than 8% of the parents used the opportunities created by the new law. That is not very impressive, the more so because the a.m. investigation suggested a greater enthusiasm. Genealogy is one of my hobbies, so I don't feel sad about this result.

*This used to be the abbreviation of 'Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant'.

Sepia Saturday 733 - On the water

I wrote about this subject before but assume that for most Sepians the story is new. Obviously, it is about water, about seawater to be more precise. The story starts in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on January 24, 1925. On that day a Lady Addis arrived on the Hawthorn Wharf there. Lady Addis was the wife of Sir Charles Stewart Addis, a.o. director of the famous P&O Line. This shipping company ordered four new ships for the London-Bombay mail service. They were named after Indian cities whose names all started with an R, hence they were known as the R-ships. Lady Addis came to the wharf to baptize P&O's latest R-ship, the SS Ranchi.

SS Ranchi

Apart from sailing between the UK and India, at the time still a British colony, she also did cruises in the Mediterranean. But in August 1939 the SS Ranchi was requisitioned by the British Admiralty to serve as an armed merchant cruiser. To accommodate guns her after funnel was removed as can be seen in the picture below.

In that configuration, the ship sailed some 300,000 miles on patrol and escort services until she was refitted as a troopship in 1943. The Ranchi participated in the Allied invasion of Italy. In 1947 she was reconditioned again to carry emigrants predominantly to Australia.

On August 15, 1945, the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia, came to an end. Also, British troops were instrumental in the surrender of Japanese forces.  Shortly after, the Indonesian independence movement gained momentum. This resulted in over 200,000 Dutch troops being sent to the Dutch colony to reestablish Dutch rule there. However, in 1949 the Dutch government was forced to recognize reality and Indonesia became an independent state.

Part of the Dutch military presence consisted of the Royal Dutch (East) Indian Army (KNIL). These troops consisted of soldiers whose families lived there for ages and also many indigenous people. After the independence declaration, they had the option of becoming Indonesian nationals. However, most of them opted for the Dutch nationality and had to leave the country. Many had to leave in a hurry because their security situation deteriorated rapidly. During the year 1950 over 100,000 people left Indonesia by ship, and the vast majority came to The Netherlands. It is easy to imagine that for this operation many passenger ships were needed and the SS Ranchi was one of them. Chartered by the Dutch government she left the port of Tanjung Priok, near Djakarta, on August 29, 1950.

The passenger manifest showed 973 passengers of which 781 KNIL troops including their wives and children. The voyage to Amsterdam ended on September 25 after having sailed the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Channel, and the North Sea. Surprisingly, upon arrival in Amsterdam, the number of passengers turned out to be 1,010! A plausible reason for this increase is the discovery of stowaways or the captain picking up crew from a sinking ship. But the true reason was that during the trip 35 women gave birth to a total of 37 babies!

Afterward, it appeared that the military knew about all these pregnant women in advance. They put as many as possible on a limited number of ships. These ships were accommodated with all the necessary medical staff and equipment including delivery rooms. The Dutch press quickly called them the Baby ships.

Obviously, not all these babies were born at the same time. Fortunately, I have found many details about this trip a.o. in the Dutch National archives in The Hague. There I found their names and the date and time of their birth. I have been in contact with several of them and some knew exactly the latitude and longitude of their birthplace. For others, I have made calculations based on the assumed speed of the Ranchi. The result is on the map below.

Route map with the places of birth of the 37 Ranchi babies 

Maybe you wonder how I ran into this story. It so happened that I saw an obituary in one of our newspapers.

Obituary of Esther Henriëtte Ranchita

First, I saw the deceased was born on a ship during a period when many ships sailed from the former Dutch East Indies. There were 95 of these ships in 1950 alone! But what really attracted my attention was the given name 'Ranchita'. And I thought Ranchi, Ranchita, this cannot be a coincidence! And it wasn't. When later, I had a look at all 37 baby names, and I found more 'ship names': Ranchi, Ranchis, Ranchia, and Ranchita. All in all 13 babies with an R-name. Believe it or not, Lady Addis, the godmother of the Ranchi, had 13 children as well!

Apparently, the ship's captain also found this a special trip. In his farewell letter to his passengers, he wrote: "I trust that all passengers, especially the little Ranchis and Ranchitas will remember this voyage to Amsterdam with pleasant recollection. I noticed since Aden the local storks have been interested in this ship. I have personally seen dozens, which probably accounts for the additions to our passenger list."

Altogether, the SS Ranchi made two trips as a charter for the Dutch government in 1950. Whether this contributed to her final demise, I don't know but in 1953 the Ranchi was scrapped in Newport, Wales. On January 19, almost to the day 28 years after she was launched, she was handed over to the demolition crews. She survived Lady Addis by less than a year. 

In case you like to know more about the described trip of the SS Ranchi, please see here.

For more watery contributions, please see the Sepia Saturday site.

Notes:

The other three R-ships were the SS Rawalpindi, SS Ranpura, and the SS Rajputana.

Nine years ago I found the colored image of the SS Ranchi on http://www.npg.org.uk.

The b/w picture is made bij photographer Alan C. Green (1878-1954).