van (Dutch)

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 Beethoven" (maybe Bettenhoven)[1][better source needed] and Rembrandt van Rijn "from the Rhine".

[6] The lowercase spelling in a name from the Netherlands is respected but not necessarily differentiated in alphabetical ordering and its Dutch style capitalisation for certain usages is generally unknown and thus not followed.

The painter's full name, however, having become commonplace, is usually spelled Vincent Van Gogh in Belgium.

In Flemish surnames the "V" is always capitalised though a following interjected "de", "den" ('the') or "der" ('of the', 'from the') usually stays lowercase.

[citation needed] Names in other languages may contain a component "Van" that is unrelated to the Dutch preposition.

The German "von" and English House of are a linguistic cognate of the Dutch "van"; however, unlike the German "von", the Dutch "van" is not necessarily indicative of the person's nobility or royalty.

Owing to its Flemish origin, the surname of Ludwig van Beethoven contains the prefix van , rather than (as might be expected of someone born in Bonn ) its German equivalent von .