Van der Merwe

Van der Merwe is a common Afrikaans surname, derived from the Dutch van der Merwen ("from the Merwede"). It was brought to South Africa in 1661 by Dutch people employed by the Dutch East India Company.[1]

The progenitors of the extended clan are Willem Schalk van der Merwe (born in "Broeck", probably Broek, Utrecht near the Merwede) and Elsje Cloete (born Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia).[2] Married in 1668 in Cape Town, they later farmed for a living in Hout Bay and eventually retired to Drakenstein.[3] Many if not most of the people below, which include 15 rugby players, are their descendants.

People

Jaco van der Merwe (1982), Insurance professional and businessman Jacobus Van der Merwe (1892-1924) South African sailor, who arrived Mexico in 1912 and never went back to his land.

Johan van der merwe (Maljan) born 1989, radio/tv presenter

  • Wouter van der Merwe (?-), South African international AP Human Geography teacher

Characters in fiction

  • Wikus van de Merwe, fictional protagonist of the film District 9.

Use in jokes

'Van der Merwe' is the butt of many South African jokes.[4]

gollark: My own server is a generation behind that, and that was just randomly lying around for free?
gollark: In general.
gollark: A few weeks ago someone on Hackaday apparently had a VAST quantity of batteryless Windows tablets and I wanted some of them for things, but nooooooo, it costs *money* to ship things.
gollark: It annoys me how there are frequently cool free things in places I'm not.
gollark: Bees.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.