SOUTH-AFRICA-L Archives

From: van Rensburg <>
Subject: NO SURNAME
Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2000 11:10:58 +1100

Happy New Year to everyone,
With the early Cape settlement it may be worthwhile remembering that
surnames was not yet in general use. Thus most people were also
designated with a toponym. The term "van de Kaap" also falls into this
category, and thus the use is not limited to slaves or descendants of
slaves, thus for example the marriage entry recorded for "Aaltjie Schalk
van de Caab" is for the person who is known as Aletta van der Merwe.


It may be a worthwhile exercise for fellow listers to make posting with
respect to these individuals who are known in the original documents by
a different name and only later did they receive a fixed surname.
Those researchers just commencing often make the mistake, in trying to
obtain information on their stamvader under the adopted surname. Little
do they realize that the stamvader does not appear under the adopted
surname in original documents.

The challenge that the authorities had with identifying the early Cape
settlers with the lack of surnames, must have been far greater with
slaves and children of slaves taking into account the various methods
used for adopting/prescribing a particular surname to an individual. The
evolution of surname usage is a topic in it self, and more so in the
early Cape.

Regards
Andre van Rensburg: van Potchefstroom

This thread:

• NO SURNAME by van Rensburg <>