von
In German, von [fɔn] is a preposition which approximately means of or from.
When it is used as a part of a German family name, it is usually a nobiliary particle, like the French, Spanish and Portuguese "de".[1] At certain times and places, it has been illegal for anyone who was not a member of the nobility to use von before their family name. However, in the Middle Ages the "von" particle was still a common part of names and was widely used also by commoners, e.g. "Hans von Duisburg" meant Hans from [the city of] Duisburg. The Dutch "Van", which is a cognate of "Von" but does not indicate nobility, can be said to have preserved this earlier meaning.
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[edit] Usage
[edit] Germany and Austria
The abolition of the monarchies in Germany and Austria in 1919 meant that neither state had a privileged nobility, and both had exclusively republican governments.
In Germany, this meant that in principle von simply became an ordinary part of the names of the people who used it. There were no longer any legal privileges or constraints associated with this naming convention, although in practice, many people with von in their names are still listed in telephone books and other files under the rest of their name. (e.g. Ludwig von Mises would be under M in the phone book rather than V).
In Austria, in contrast, not only were the privileges of the nobility abolished, their titles and prepositions were abolished as well. Thus, for example, Friedrich von Hayek became Friedrich Hayek in 1919 when Austria abolished all indicators of nobility in family names. On this issue, also see Austrian nobility.
[edit] Russia
Generally, the growth of the Tsardom of Russia into the Russian Empire was accompanied by greater or lesser extent of German names’ inflow. Two main channels of such penetration were a) the absorbtion of territories where Germans constituted a part of local nobility like Finland, Poland, Baltic region etc. and b) the state-supported immigration of Germans into Russia.
As a rule, the local nobility which found theirselves in Russia as a result of geopolitical shifts preserved its privileges in the Empire. Their names were enlisted in the State Register Of Noble Families as soon as the required documents were provided. Particle von was preserved as well; as soon as hyphen becomes broadly used in 18-th and 19-th century, it is used to separate von (eg. Russian: Фон-Визин, von-Wiesen). Yet from the 20-th century and on this particle is written separately, as in the German origin. In the Baltic region, the German language continued to be used alongside with Russian, so the "language environment" was friendly enough there to keep these names from "localization".
Meanwhile some of those whose ancestors came to the Russian service from abroad individually and who settled theirselves in Moscow and core Russian provinces, sooner or later found it easier to adjust their names to the local speaking mode. But unlike immigrants to U.S.A. in 18-20-th centuries who usually lost their nobility particles and often simplified the remaining parts of their names, immigrants to the Tzarist and Imperial Russia did not "lose" their noble particles while some of their core family names may have experienced insignifical changes.
At the end of 16-th century, after the Livonian War Ivan IV of Russia invited Baron Berndt von Wiesen from the Livonian Brothers of the Sword for a Russian service and octroyed him some landed property. In the 17-th century his descendants wrote their names as Russian: Фон Висин, sounds like Fon Vissin). Circa 1660 one of them adds -ow (Russian: Фон Висинов, like Fon Vissinow), yet in the 18-th century this suffix is lost, and the middle consonant changes s→z (Russian: Фон-Визин, like Fon Vizin). Finally, in the 18-th century Ivan Fonvizin decides to merge the particle von with the core, thus giving a start to a new Russian family of a German origin. His son, Denis Fonvizin (Russian: Фонвизин) became a playwright, whose plays are staged today.
[edit] Nordic countries
In the Nordic countries, von is common but not universal in the names of noble families of German origin and has occasionally been used as a part of names of ennobled families of native or foreign, but non-German, extraction, as with the family of the philosopher Georg Henrik von Wright, which is of Scottish origin.
[edit] Non-noble use
Not all members of families whose names begin with "von" are holders of a title of some kind, regardless of whether their parents are living or dead—while it can be said that almost all German nobles use von, not all users of von are noble. Nonetheless, many individuals of no titled descent choose to add the particle to their name.
[edit] Ancient nobility
Some very old noble families, usually members of the Uradel, do not use von but are nevertheless still noble.
Also, a very few German families were elevated to the nobility without the use of the preposition von. This was the case of the Riedesel Freiherren zu Eisenbach who received their baronial dignity in 1680. Ancient families distinguish themselves from newly ennobled ones by abbreviating von to v. This is also the traditional practice of nobles in North Germany.[citation needed]
[edit] Capitalisation
The prefix "von" is not capitalized in German speaking countries, unless it begins a sentence – for instance, "A book by von Humboldt", but "Von Humboldt wrote this book."
This is in contrast to Dutch Van, which in the north (Netherlands) is capitalized when standing alone (unless part of a clause), and in the south (Belgium) is always capitalized – for instance, "A paper by Van der Waals", though "The van der Waals radius", and "The politician Eric Van Rompuy."
[edit] Examples
In Thomas Mann's novella Death in Venice, the protagonist is a famous novelist formerly named Gustav Aschenbach who has recently been ennobled and so acquired the name von Aschenbach.
Outside of fiction, Lars von Trier, Diane von Fürstenberg, Erich von Stroheim, Josef von Sternberg, Dita Von Teese (note non-standard capitalization) and Denise van Outen added the von/van to their name by their own choice.
