You’ve probably heard of Amsterdam, and The Hague, and probably Rotterdam. But why are they called that? Are they even called that? Where do these names even originate? And what about the others, that you may not yet have heard of or travelled to? Don’t fret, I’m about to explain the lot – or at least the 10 most populous ones. Here’s a who’s-who of Dutch city names.
In case you’re interested in old names, I’ve done a similar post about the twelve provinces as well. You can find it here.
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands. Through it flows a cute little river called the Amstel. Before Amsterdam was the size it is today, it was nothing more than a dam across that river. See where I’m going with this? The original town was called Amstelredamme, or dam across the Amstel. Lazy Dutch pronunciation turned that into the famous city name we have today.
Rotterdam
Now you know the history of the name of Amsterdam, you might be able to figure out how Rotterdam got its name. Around the same time as Amsterdam was formed – during the late 1200s – another dam was built, across another small river a bit south. This river was (and still is) called the Rotte, and Rotterdam was born.
Den Haag
NO. Okay, I know every Dutchie calls it Den Haag, but the actual name of the city is ‘s-Gravenhage. I’ve explained how this name works in the post about the wonky apostrophe-s, but it basically means: in the haag (a fenced-off area) of the count. Granted, this is a bit of a long and odd-looking name, so we turned it into Den Haag, a name English speakers for some reason have turned into The Hague (there’s worse names to worry about, srsly).
Utrecht
I can hear you thinking: traitor! You’ve already done Utrecht in the provinces post! Well, yes. It’s not my fault the name of the province and its capital city are the same. Quick recap: traiectum in Latin means place where you can cross the river, they slapped the prefix ultra in front because the Romans already knew of a place called that, and the Dutch turned Ultraiectum into Utrecht.
Eindhoven
Eindhoven, the largest city in Noord-Brabant, is also a fairly easy one. Eind has similar origins and a similar meaning to the English word end, and hoven is a form of hof/hoeve, meaning farm or homestead. It was probably a collection of farms at the end of a road or at the border of a known area.
Groningen
What, another one that’s already been mentioned in the provinces post? Yup. Groningen is the capital of the province of Groningen. The name consists of three parts: gron is probably the name of a village, ing means people, and en has the same origins as hem or heim, meaning house or living area. There you go, the living area of the people of, in this case, Gruno (we think).
Tilburg
The origin of Tilburg is a bit less clear. Burg is probably a version of an old word for castle (it is in many other names of cities and towns, so it makes sense). We’re not sure where the til bit comes from, the general thought it that is has something to do with a bridge or another thing related to water or rivers. Could be anything, though.
Almere
Almere is the capital of Flevoland, which, as you may know after reading the post about province names, is named after an old lake in that area. The first houses were built in 1976, about a decade before Flevoland was officially named a province. Like Flevoland, Almere is named after an old lake in that general area, which was probably named by ancient Germans, who called it Almere, or great lake.
Breda
If you speak a fair bit of Dutch, this one’s a bit of an aha! moment! Breda is formed around the river Aa, more specifically the part of the river Aa where it merges with another river. Because merging rivers tend to get wider, they called the area Brede Aa, or Broad Aa, which was eventually shortened to Breda.
Nijmegen
Nijmegen is a very old city, and it was very important for the Romans when they headed this way. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that the name is actually a Dutchification of the Latin word Noviomagus. Novio means new, and magus means something like market, or a place where you can buy and sell goods. They had plenty of those in the rest of the Empire, but here, they founded a new one, and called it the New Market, or Noviomagus, or, eventually, Nijmegen.
Alkmaar
I know, I know, Alkmaar is only #28 on the list, but hey, it’s the city I was born in and the city I live in today, so deal with it. Alkmaar may look a lot like Almere (it does!), and while the mere/maar part is actually the same (lake), the alk/al part is not. In fact, nobody really knows where its origins lie – it’s probably yet another old word for swamp. It is very old though, the name Alcmere or Alcmaria has been mentioned in texts from the 10th century.
Long story short
Eleven different names, eleven different stories, and yet so many similarities. Throughout history, people have always liked setting up camp near rivers and lakes, so it’s no surprise that many of the Dutch city names have either words for water in them, or names of bodies of water known at the time.
Still, it’s pretty cool that these have remained fairly intact throughout our long history (not you, Almere!), and that we pretty much know everything about where the names come from.
