Friday, December 21, 2012

What Was Vincent Van Gogh's Middle Name?

Vincent Van Gogh's middle name was NOT Van but Willem.  He was named after three people: 

  • his uncle, Vincent Van Gogh, known often in the family correspondence as "Uncle Cent", but I do not know what his particular middle name 
  •  his brother Vincent Van Gogh, who would have been Vincent's older brother had the baby survived, but alas, the first Vincent Willem was a stillborn.  He was born and pronounced dead on arrival on 30 March 1852, a year to the day before our Vincent Willem was born.  The gravestone is pictured above.
  • his paternal grandfather, Vincent Van Gogh (1780 - 1874) a minister who is thought to have been named after his uncle, a sculptor named (you guessed it ) Vincent Van Gogh (1729 - 1802.) 

The name Willem and the feminine version Willemina pop up frequently in Dutch names, but I have not been able to determine if the Willem part of Van Gogh's name is after any particular relative.

Willem (English equivalent William) is a two-part name. The "Wil" part means "desire" while the "lem" part means "helmet" or other protective  headgear.  So, putting it all together, "Willem" means "desire helmet."  Not a particularly apt name for our lad Vincent.

1 comment:

  1. What did Vincent Van Gogh say about cutting of his own ear?
    Find the answer in an interview with Vincent (imaginary) in stenote.blogspot.com/2016/07/an-interview-with-vincent.html

    ReplyDelete