Surnames
There are a great variety of Dutch surnames (over 100,000), due to their recent introduction (a forced registration of surnames) in 1811, hence there have been few generations in which names could become extinct.
Many Dutch names start with a prefix like van ("of/from"), de/het/'t ("the"), der ("of the"), van de/van der/van den ("of the/from the"), and in het ("in the"). Examples are 't Hooft ("the head"), de Wolff ("the wolf"), van Rijn ("from Rhine"). In the Netherlands, these prefixes are not spelled with a capital when used in combination with the first name or initial, for example Piet de Wolff or R. van Rijn. In all other cases a capital letter must be used, for example, de heer Van Kampen, or when preceded by an academic title as in dr. Van Wijk.
In Belgium, this capitalization practice is not followed; prefixes in most common Dutch names are always capitalized, though occasionally 'Van de' occurs whereas another family may have the otherwise identical name spelled as 'Van De'. Also, prepositions can be merged with the surname (such as Vandecasteele), or can be separate (Van De Casteele), and a few combinations occur (Vande Casteele). These variations indicate different families and not all names exist with several spellings. (More on this under Tussenvoegsels.)
When van is followed by the name of a place or area, this may (but usually does not) indicate that a person belongs to the nobility or royalty such as van Tuyll van Serooskerken. This usage exists also in Flemish names, though its nobility usually obtained the French prefix 'de'. In Dutch aristocratic names, the prefix is never capitalized. This results in people being very strict about whether the prefix in someone's name should be capitalized or not, and in emigrants from the Netherlands always having an uncapitalized prefix. Van can also indicate that a person is from a certain farm. The ancestors of the Dutch soprano Elma van Den Dool lived on a farm called Den Dool. The first letter of Den gets capitalised (she is from Den Dool).
In name directories in the Netherlands, the prefixes are always ignored for sorting (e.g. Van Rijn is ordered under 'R'). A Dutch surname may often contain an article and/or a preposition, preceding the noun. Sometimes these have been merged with the name. Many Dutch surnames originated from different personal qualities, geographical locations, and occupations. However, Dutch names in English directories (e.g. reference lists of scientific papers) may be ordered on the full name including all prefixes (Van Rijn would be ordered under 'V'), partly because many Dutch emigrant families to English-speaking countries have had their prefixes capitalized for them, whether they liked it or not, like Martin Van Buren or Steve Van Dyck, and normal practise in English is to order on the first capitalized element.
In Belgium, all prefixes are always included for sorting.
Read more about this topic: Dutch Name