Belgian Nobility - Noble Families Without A Title

Noble Families Without A Title

Nobles without a title can call themselves Écuyer (French for shield bearer or squire) or Jonkheer (Dutch, literally meaning 'Young Lord'). The female equivalent of Jonkheer is Jonkvrouw. Écuyer however has no female equivalent. The titles Jonkheer and Jonkvrouw are roughly equivalent in meaning to "Sir" or "Dame", but not a common translation. Écuyer is equivalent to "esquire" except that the latter may be used for any Englishman.

There are thousands of untitled noble families in Belgium. These noble families lack an official Belgian family title for various reasons. The most common reason is that they were Écuyer, as described above, and were therefore noble only through their close link with the titled aristocracy. Another common reason is that some titles could only be taken over by a certain number of family members (e.g. the eldest), so that the rest of the family became untitled, though essentially still made part of the Belgian nobility. A third reason is that some aristocrats voluntarily relinquished their title in order to perform commercial activities, as described above.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of untitled noble families in Belgium:

Agie de Selsaeten
Anciaux Henry de Faveaux
Anne de Molina
Annez de Taboada
André-Dumont
Arrazola de Oñate
Bauchau
Beaucarne d'Eenaeme
Beeckmans de West-Meerbeeck
du Bois de Vroylande
Cardon de Lichtbuer
Carton de Tournay
Claeys Boüüaert (Claeys Boùùaert)
Coart
Cogels
Coget
Coomans de Brachène
de Cock
de Coninck
d'Andrimont
de Barsy
de Bauer
van Dievoet
de Fraipont
de Francquen
de la Croix d'Ogimont
de La Hamayde & de La Hamaide
de Mahieu ( for the rest of the family )
de Meester (de Meester de Ravestein, de Meester de Betzenbroeck, de Meester de Heyndonck)
de Prelle de la Nieppe
de Roye van Wichen ( de Roye de Wichen)
de Smet de Baeyer
de Waiter
de Wasseige
Demeure de Lespaul
Duquesne Watelet de la Vinelle
van der Essen
Ernst de la Graete
Geelhand de Merxem
Gilliot
Guyot de Mishaegen
Hermanns
Hendrickx van den Bosch
Janssen
t'Kint de Roodebeke
Lantonnois van Rode
Leman
Matthieu de Wynendale, sinds 1957
Maus de Rolley
Mertens de Wilmars
Monnoyer de Galland de Carnières
Moretus Plantin de Bouchout
Nolf
Peltzer
Plissart de Brandignies
Serné
Spruyt
Terlinden
Thibaut de Maisières
Uyttenhove
van Ackere
Vandive
van den Hecke de Lembeke
Vander Elst
Van der Meersch
van Neste
van Wassenhove
Wittouck
Woronoff

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