http://semantics-online.org/2003/02/how-to-alphabetize-von-fintel A weblog on semantics, pragmatics, philosophy of language, and intersections thereof Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:22:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.2 http://semantics-online.org/2003/02/how-to-alphabetize-von-fintel#comment-3 Brandt van der Gaast Fri, 21 Feb 2003 02:09:08 +0000 http://semantics-online.org/2003/02/how-to-alphabetize-von-fintel#comment-3 <p>In Holland, words like 'van' are considered part of one's last name. But in a bibliography, my name would appear as "Gaast, Brandt van der". One reason is that this divides the whole name in merely two parts (as opposed to more), another reason is that it makes sure that it's filed under G (by filing under V one would lose discriminations--a decent part of the population would be filed under D or V). Sometimes on forms (e.g. tax forms) there are three boxes to fill in: first name, last name, and in-between-thingie.</p> In Holland, words like ‘van’ are considered part of one’s last name. But in a bibliography, my name would appear as “Gaast, Brandt van der”. One reason is that this divides the whole name in merely two parts (as opposed to more), another reason is that it makes sure that it’s filed under G (by filing under V one would lose discriminations–a decent part of the population would be filed under D or V). Sometimes on forms (e.g. tax forms) there are three boxes to fill in: first name, last name, and in-between-thingie.

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