Dirk Peter "Dick" Blok (7 January 1925 – 6 February 2019)[1] was a Dutch scholar of onomastics.
[3] Blok fictionally featured in the book cycle Het Bureau [nl] by J. J. Voskuil, which was based on figures at the Meertens Institute, where Voskuil worked as well.
[1] He studied Medieval history at the University of Amsterdam, where he obtained a degree in 1953.
[4] Blok had a long teaching career at the University of Amsterdam on the topic of settlement history related to the onomastics of place names, first a teaching assignment from 1967 to 1976, and subsequently as extraordinary lector (1976–1980), extraordinary professor (1980–1986) and finally as full professor from 1986 to 1990, when he took up emeritus status.
[5][6] Blok was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984.