4 ms·

why would you spell as van? the English language and coding format is Van

stilist 3y ago
You’d do it lowercase in van Goch’s name because it’s the correct way to write it for him. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussenvoegsel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussenvoegsel
- LegionMammal978 3y ago
  Of course, for someone so well-known, it's easy just to look it up; I was just using that name as an example. But in general, particles in names like "van", "von", "de", etc. might be properly capitalized one way or the other, and it can be impossible to tell which without a close understanding of the author's nationality (which in turn can very difficult to determine).
wahnfrieden 3y ago
No it’s not
breakingcups 3y ago
Yeah, surely the author can't be Dutch or Flemish? Where the van prefix originates?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
edent 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
vanderZwan 3y ago
Because Vincent van Gogh was Dutch. In the Netherlands (and Flanders, I presume) "van" would be lowercased when placed between given name and surname (because it's not a name, "van" just means "of"), but capitalized when it stands alone with the surname: Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh And to pre-emptively answer the next question: we don't drop the "van" because some surnames come in varieties with and without it, so you might end up confusing a hypothetical "Jan van Gent" with "Jan Gent". But of course, you can't tell from an article if someone is Dutch or just has Dutch ancestry but long-since switched to English spelling rules. Which in some cases means the family chose to always lowercase the "van". Source: look at my username ;)
- skerit 3y ago
  We don't do that in Flanders. My husband's name is "Roel Van Gils". People (and computer systems) from the Netherlands do automatically change this to "Roel van Gils" but they are wrong. Also, in Flanders, when you do write the "Van" or the "De" in your lastname with a lowercase letter, we assume you are nobility
  - vanderZwan 3y ago
    Thank you for educating me! :) It also immediately highlights the original problem even better. Funny how the French do the same thing as us (Dutch people) again though, I wonder if there is a quirky consequence of some historical event "encoded" there?
- mytailorisrich 3y ago
  It's the same in French ('de' is lowercase) though many people get that rule wrong.
- CoastalCoder 3y ago
  It took me a while to realize that "Van Morrison" wasn't the musician's surname.
brianpan 3y ago
Falsehoods programmers believe about names number 30: "There exists an algorithm which transforms names and can be reversed losslessly." https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...
- 3836293648 3y ago
  Counterpoint: utf8 <-> utf32

You’d do it lowercase in van Goch’s name because it’s the correct way to write it for him. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussenvoegsel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tussenvoegsel

LegionMammal978 3y ago
Of course, for someone so well-known, it's easy just to look it up; I was just using that name as an example. But in general, particles in names like "van", "von", "de", etc. might be properly capitalized one way or the other, and it can be impossible to tell which without a close understanding of the author's nationality (which in turn can very difficult to determine).

wahnfrieden 3y ago

No it’s not

breakingcups 3y ago

Yeah, surely the author can't be Dutch or Flemish? Where the van prefix originates?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

edent 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

vanderZwan 3y ago

Because Vincent van Gogh was Dutch. In the Netherlands (and Flanders, I presume) "van" would be lowercased when placed between given name and surname (because it's not a name, "van" just means "of"), but capitalized when it stands alone with the surname: Vincent van Gogh Van Gogh And to pre-emptively answer the next question: we don't drop the "van" because some surnames come in varieties with and without it, so you might end up confusing a hypothetical "Jan van Gent" with "Jan Gent". But of course, you can't tell from an article if someone is Dutch or just has Dutch ancestry but long-since switched to English spelling rules. Which in some cases means the family chose to always lowercase the "van". Source: look at my username ;)

skerit 3y ago
We don't do that in Flanders. My husband's name is "Roel Van Gils". People (and computer systems) from the Netherlands do automatically change this to "Roel van Gils" but they are wrong. Also, in Flanders, when you do write the "Van" or the "De" in your lastname with a lowercase letter, we assume you are nobility
- vanderZwan 3y ago
  Thank you for educating me! :) It also immediately highlights the original problem even better. Funny how the French do the same thing as us (Dutch people) again though, I wonder if there is a quirky consequence of some historical event "encoded" there?
mytailorisrich 3y ago
It's the same in French ('de' is lowercase) though many people get that rule wrong.
CoastalCoder 3y ago
It took me a while to realize that "Van Morrison" wasn't the musician's surname.

brianpan 3y ago

Falsehoods programmers believe about names number 30: "There exists an algorithm which transforms names and can be reversed losslessly." https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/ https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-...

3836293648 3y ago
Counterpoint: utf8 <-> utf32