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Author: Dirk Jan van Werkum (private)
Email: djvanwerkum at planet dot nl
Date: 2004-10-22 11:25:07
Subject: origins familyname
I would like
I am very interested in the (linguistical) origins of my familyname 'van Werkum'.
My family originated from the northern part of the Netherlands in the province of Groningen. Groningen used to be a Frisian region.
In 1770 Cornelius Hindriks choosed the familyname van Werkum. Till this day on we were not able to find the origins of this name.
The van Werkum family lived in the village Warffum (northern part of Groningen).
Werkum and Warffum are as far as I know not linguistically related.
The Northern provinces of the Netherlands (i.e. Friesland and Groningen) know a lot of villages with the suffix '-kum'. This is also very common in the North Western part of Germany known as 'Ost-Friesland' but there is no village named Werkum. There is a Frisian town named 'Workum'. but there is no relationship between Cornelius van Werkum from Groningen and the Frisian town Workum.
Cornelius van Werkum started to use his new familyname and started to use a coat of arms in 1770.
Maybe this coat of arms can give you a clue to the meaning of the family name;
This coat of arms shows: (on top) a mound (in Dutch:'terp')which is very well known in this region. In the Middle Ages the Dutch builded these mounds to prevent damage at their houses during the regular floodings. They builded their houses on mounds.
The coat of arms shows (at the bottom)a tree and a waterbird floating on the water.
I hope someone can help me to solve this mystery by means of linguistical interpretation.
Regards,
Dirk Jan