Van der Veen

Van der Veen is a common Dutch surname, meaning "from the fen" or more generally "from the peatlands". In the Netherlands 19,847 people carried the name in 2007, making it the 32nd most common surname there.[1] Dutch surnames with the same origin and meaning are Van Veen, Van de Ven/Van der Ven, Van de Venne, Veen, and Veenstra/Feenstra. The name was often taken by peat workers, as harvest of turf for fuel was abundant in the Netherlands. Since the early Middle Ages, the quarry of fens (laagveen, "low fen") in the north and west created, merged or extended many lakes, most of which have now been reclaimed as polders. The harvest of turf from bogs (hoogveen, "high fen") in the east, like the large Bourtange moor, extended until the 20th century.

Notable people with the surname include:

Van de Veen
Vander Veen

See also

  • Van der Veen Ice Stream, ice stream in Antarctica named after the glaciologist Kees van der Veen (born 1956)
  • Vanderveen, a Canadian rock band

References

  1. The Top 100 Surnames in the Netherlands at the Database of Dutch surnames
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