Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

[osarusan]

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink..................

What is the story with this guys name? It sounds like his name is Jan Vennegoor and he's from a place called Hesselink.

[Plastic Paddy]

This from the excellent Guardian Knowledge:

"What's the story behind Dutch striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's unusually area-specific name?".

According to our research, the new Celtic striker was thus named because, way back in the 17th century, two farming families in the Enschede area of Holland intermarried. Both the Vennegoor and Hesselink names carried equal social weight, and so - rather than choose between them - they chose to use both.

'Of' in Dutch actually translates to 'or', which would mean that a strict translation of his name would read Jan Vennegoor or Hesselink.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/thekn...860441,00.html

PP

[osarusan]

Cheers. I was closer than I thought.......well not really.

[holidaysong]

That would cost you some amount to get printed on the back of your jersey.

[Plastic Paddy]

£66 was the price quoted at the Celtic club shop for new season home top in medium adult size plus number plus full surname. Not sure how many sold but, knowing the what the "faithful" are like, I expect at least a few.

PP

[noby]

'Of' in Dutch actually translates to 'or', which would mean that a strict translation of his name would read Jan Vennegoor or Hesselink.

Apparantley caused a bit of confusion in his early days, as stadium announcers thought the team sheet was incomplete, and one or the other would be playing.

[Strabane_Harp]

£66 was the price quoted at the Celtic club shop for new season home top in medium adult size plus number plus full surname. Not sure how many sold but, knowing the what the "faithful" are like, I expect at least a few.

PP

JJB sports have an SPL special offer, any official name and number for £10 sterling.

[Gerrit]

In Dutch language, many noblesse families would also have a double name like this. I'm not sure about this particular person's situation, but it would be very common amongst noblesse to have double names so it may be a possible reason as well for his double name.

[tetsujin1979]

I think it's because when his parents married, both families were considered equal in terms of nobility, so they took both names. Normally if one family is considered higher, that name is taken