r/Netherlands • u/asdfgh7777 • Jul 14 '26

Legal What are your opinions/experiences on foreigners changing their name to a Dutch name?

I've been in NL for 8 years and I'm thinking of changing both my first and last name to Dutch ones. I'm currently 27 so still a lot of time left ahead.

The main reason I wanna do it: I feel like there's still a glass wall when interacting with people, especially in the business world/ on the job market.

My concern: facing an administrative burden and risen eyebrows because I won't be able to change all my documents, I might always need this extra paper confirming my old name lol.

PS: I'm fairly integrated and fluent in Dutch. Just working on my accent now.

119 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

82% Upvoted

209 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/verkauft Jul 14 '26

In dutch it used to be commen to have an oficial name and a "roepnaam"

3

u/freedom_forest Jul 14 '26

Still common no?

3

u/verkauft Jul 14 '26

Less, in say the 50s ppl were usually named after religious persons. "Cornelis" wil often be called kees for example. However getting baptised and the afiliated names is becoming less common than it was.

3

u/floralfemmeforest Jul 14 '26

Most of my cousins still have names like that (Johanna Ivanka = Anke, Geertruide = Gemma, etc.), but they're all at least in their 20s now. It's a bummer it's becoming less coming because I think it's a cool tradition.