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Re: Oopjen
in reply to a message by lac
I'm Dutch, so I know it's pronounced OH-pyun. I've seen it on the news, with the newly bought Rembrandt paintings and all. I've been wondering where it comes from too, though... I'd say it was a diminutive of a name starting with Oop- or Op- like Ophelia or Opal, but those names are not used much at all here - they never were, I don't think?

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood - George Orwell, 1984
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I looked up Oopke in the NVB and was directed to this explanation (in Dutch)http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/verklaring/naam/ObeSuch a reduced form is hard to explain, as the two different suggested origins (WULF + B... and ODAL + B...) show.--elbowin

This message was edited 7/5/2016, 8:07 AM

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