| The Beijen/Beyen Family Site by Laurens Beijen |
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Beijen or Beyen?
Two dotsSome people write their name as Beijen, others as Beyen. In the Netherlands, the official name is determined by the birth certificate. Previously these certificates were handwritten, and the difference between Beijen and Beyen was not more than two dots. The pictures above are from two birth certificates that were drawn up in 1853 and 1861 in Utrecht. The first town clerk did not write dots in the name of the father of het child, the second one did. Strictly speaking the first child had the surname Beyen and the second child the surname Beijen. We may suppose that this was a matter of indifference to the people concerned. In later years typewriters and computers were used. Therefore, the difference is now much more visible. The spelling of the surname gives no indication to which of the families Beijen or Beyen one belongs. The next overview can illustrate this. Personal Record Cards and Personal Record ListsThe official names of the inhabitants of the Netherlands are set down in the official population registration. The data of people who are living now are not public, but the data about deceased persons may be asked for.Since 1939 the Dutch municipalities have used Personal Record Cards to register information on every inhabitant. In 1994 these cards were replaced by digitalized Personal Record Lists. I have obtained copies of the record cards or record lists of all members of the Beijen or Beyen families who have died in the Netherlands between 1939 and 2024. These people can be split over the four families as follows:  This shows that according to the official population registration in all these families and branches the name Beijen is far more numerous than the name Beyen.
The names Beijen and Beyen on this websiteOn this website, I follow the preferences of the individuals involved as much as possible. For example, if you look at the photo gallery, you'll see that in several cases both the names Beijen and Beyen are used within the same family.On other pages on this website I sometimes refer, for brevity's sake, to Beijen alone. This also refers to the spelling Beyen. |
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