Laurier in The Netherlands
Surname variantions for Laurier
The name LAURIER - LOUWERIER - LAUWRIER etc. usually needs to be spelled out if people have to write down the name.
People often even then do not succeed in writing it in the correct spelling. This too happened a lot in the past.
That's the reason why so divers versions of the surname LAURIER exist nowadays.
The original name is LAURIER, the French word for a Laurel tree. The original (French) pronounciation has lead to
the surnames containing an O and an E with an accent (é, è) and even the surname LORJEE. The Dutch
pronounciation of he word LAURIER has lead to the names containing AU or OU with an optional W or WE.
In the past it regularly occurred that one person was addressed with several versions of the name: before 1900
one did not care much about the correct spelling. Many people could not read or write which also contributed to
the confusion. Due to these facts, it may happen that one and the same person is mentioned in a particular document
with several variants of the name.
An example is a civil marriage registration of Gouda dated 23rd of February 1870. It is the marriage registration
of Maria Louwerier (spelled with O-U-W-E) and Maarten van den End. Maria's brother, Dammes Louwerier is one of the
witnesses. In the whole text of the registration, the name is spelled "Louwerier" (with O-U-W-E). At the bottom of
the text the signatures of the bride, the groom, their parents and the witnesses are found. It is noted that Maria
signs using the name with O-U-W-E, while Dammus signs using "D. Laurier" (with just A-U).
As mentioned before, the original name is LAURIER with just A-U. Looking to the existing derivations, it may be
concluded that the original pronounciation will have been in French. The oldest data too point in the direction of
French ancestors.
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All Lauriers used to be Huguenotes ?
The oldest known data show that LAURIERs in Nederland used to be Huguenotes. Huguenotes were French protestants,
who fled to the North, when protestantism was banned in France. This happened during the period in Dutch history
known as The 80-year War ("Tachtigjarige oorlog"), which lasted from 1568 to 1648 and in which the Netherlands
fought the Spanish (actually they fought their own king Philips II, which also happened to be king of Spain).
In contrast tot France, in the Netherlands protestantism was the official religion. Many protestants therefor
came from France and Wallonie (= the French part of Belgium) to Flanders (= Vlaanderen, the Dutch part of Belgium).
When the catholic Spanish re-captured Antwerp in 1585, many of the Huguenots fled further to the North and
settled in Holland. Especially Gouda and Leiden used to be places where a lot of them found a new life.
A few people with the name LAURIER were among them. Even nowadays the name is found quite frequently in these
places.
Most families LAURIER in The Netherlands have Huguenot ancestors, although this can only be proven for a few of
them. Several clues exist for the other families which point in the same direction though. A few families
(typically Jewish families) adopted the name LAURIER much later, when Napoleon declared that everyone should
adopt a surname (in 1795). The corresponding law in the Netherlands resulted in a surname for everyone from the
beginning of the nineteenth century (1811). The Frisian Laurier family is such an exception too.
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Where live/lived the Lauriers ?
Since the early Lauriers settled in the Netherlands, they spread over the country. Until recently however a few
places had much higher concentrations of Lauriers than the rest of the country: Gouda and Leiden have already been
mentioned. The other cities and the countryside of Holland (= the western part of the Netherlands) show a high
concentration, while the Eastern, Northern and Southern provincies hardly show Lauriers. Only the city of
Nijmegen has its own family Lauwerier since about 1750. After World War II many people move to other places, so
nowadays the spread is a little more evenly over the country. In places like Haarlem, Amsterdam and Arnhem only a
few families have been living there for a short period.
It may have become clear now that there are more Lauriers in the Netherlands than expected. To estimate the
total population a (manual !) count has been made using the Dutch phone-books of 1986. All connections with a
name LAURIER or a name derived of LAURIER have been counted. The original name (LAURIER with just A-U) is still the
most common one (57 times). Runner up is LOUWRIER (with O-U-W) counting 40 times, followed by LOURIER (with O-U,
30 times). LAUWRIER with A-U-W is counted 17 times, LAUWERIER with A-U-W-E 14 times and LOUWERIER with O-U-W-E 9
times. (The names derived from the French pronounciation had not been counted). This results in a total of 163
connections. Assuming an average of 2 persons bearing the name per connection, the total estimate is more than
300 people.
Further back in time, the total population may be estimated using the data of the Dutch 1947 census. The published
count of surnames per town shows again that the original name was the most common (161 people bearing the name
LAURIER with just A-U). LOUWRIER (with O-U-W) was second with 95 people. Third was LORIER (with just an O and
without an U). This variant is found in the province of Zeeland. Then follow LORIÉ and LORJÉ (resp. 72 and 52
persons), LOURIER (with O-U: 50 persons), LAUWRIER (with A-U-W: 39 persons) and finally LAUWERIER (with A-U-W-E)
and LOUWERIER (with O-U-W-E) each with 28 persons. This results in a total of 677 persons in 1947.
To estimate the amount of Lauriers in the nineteenth century, a count is made of the civil Birth, Marriage and Death
registrations. Gouda had the most entries: 158 (!) newborn children were registered between 1811 and 1900.
A total of 333 registrations were made in Gouda in that period. Second was Leiden with a total of 171 registrations,
followed by Amsterdam with 119 and Rotterdam with 116 entries. Nijmegen is the only place outside Holland
showing more than 20 birth registrations.
To complete this section about the number of Lauriers and their home towns, something about Laurier in Belgium.
Again the telephone-books have been used to count the number of connections. The books were dated 1982-1983, but
Brussels and the Belgium coast provincies were not counted. It shows that many places near Gent appear in the
overview. Ronse (Renait), on the border between Flanders and Wallone, leads the list with 31 connections.
The name LAUWERIER (with A-U-W-E) is the most common variant in Belgium (30 times). LAURIER (with A-U) is runner
up there (29 times). The name DE LAURIER is the only surviving variant with a predicate. It is still quite common
in Belgium. Other earlier existing variants with predicates like VAN DE LAUWERIER have disappeared.
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Laurier in Gouda
On the 30th of June 1744 the marriage of Jan or Johannes Laurier and Anna Hoogeboom is celebrated in Gouda.
Both are born in Gouda, but it is unknown at what age they married. From this marriage 5 sons and 2 daughters are
born in the period 1745-1760. Three of these sons, Dirk, Jan and Anthonie, have children. Finally this family
grows to the largest LAURIER family in the Netherlands. It is noted that this family is a Roman-catholic family.
The decendants of Jan and Anna usually stay in Gouda and its vicinity (a.o. Hazerswoude).
Most members of this family worked as rope-makers ("touwslagers") or clay-pipe-makers ("pijpmakers"). The women
often worked as clay-pipe-maker ("pijpmaakster") or prepared the material to make ropes ("hekelster").
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Laurier in Leiden
On May 16th 1706 Gabriël Laurier and Francijn van de Wijngaard marry at Leiden. They get three children: Magdaleen,
Gabriël en Helena. The decendants of their son use the names Louwrier en Lauwrier. The family remains at Leiden
with the exception of a few branches in Rotterdam and Hellevoetsluis.
Before 1600 a few loose Lauriers are found in the archives of Leiden. Between 1660 and 1760 a second family
appears, descending from Moses Jacobsz van de Lauweriere and Anna van der Codde. Between 1700 and 1750 a third
family appears, descending from a certain Jan Laurier. The latter two families may be related to the first:
the search continues ...
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Laurier in Rotterdam
On October 16th 1650 the marriage licence for Pieter Abrahams Lauwerier and Maartje Ariens Verka
is given by the
reverent of Zevenhuizen, a village near Rotterdam. Their three sons are the ancestors of the Rotterdam family.
The couple also had two daughters. This family spreads over the area between Rotterdam and Leiden, but a branch
has lived in the Dutch East Indies ("Nederlandsch Indië", now Indonesia). In this family the variant Louwerier
is also found.
A second family in Rotterdam does not seem to be related to the other one. All kinds of variants of the name
are found in this family. The eldest in this family is Frans Lauriers, who is mentioned as father of Tijs, Marijtje
and Willemijntje since 1690. Decendants of this family appear at least until the beginning of the 20th century
in Rotterdam.
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Laurier in Amsterdam
Amsterdam always has been a temporary location for Lauriers. Several fragments are found in the Amsterdam archives,
but there is no real "Amsterdam Laurier family". Between 1740 and 1850 a family descending from Claas Louwerier and
Anna Rijken appears in Amsterdam. From about 1800 a few Jewish people bearing the name Lourier are registered as
descendants of Joseph Lourier and Vrouwtje Meijer "from Germany". These Louriers have probably adopted the name
in 1811. Further back in time, around 1610 a few registrations speak of Lauriers in Amsterdam. See also Laurier in Haarlem.
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Laurier in Haarlem
In Haarlem between 1754 and 1759 four children are baptized of Jan de Laurier from Limmen and Helena Spijk from
Amsterdam. Descendants are found until the beginning of the 20th century in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
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Laurier in Nijmegen
On the 20th of June 1749 the first wife of Kobus Lauwerier is burried in Nijmegen. One year later Kobus re-marries
on May 10th 1750 with Lijsbeth Vonder. From this second marriage seven children are born between 1751 and 1762,
of which Gradus (born 1760) continues the family. Two sons of Gradus make the two branches of this family:
the family Louwerier, which is spread over the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies and the family Lauwerier
which until recently lived in Nijmegen. This family is a Roman-catholic family too.
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Laurier in Friesland
When Napoleon ordered that everyone should register their surname or (in case no surname was used so far) should
adopt a surname, a few people in Friesland adopted the name Laurier. It is doubtful that these people used the surname
before the year 1811 in which the order became effective in the bigger part of the Netherlands. So far no official
document is found in which these people are mentioned with the surname Laurier, which is dated before 1811. The
descendants of these people form the Frisian Laurier family.
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The Jewish family Lorjé
In 1811 the surname Lorjé is adopted by the Jewish widow Johanna Michiels. This starts the Jewish branch Lorjé. The majority of the presented data were received from Leo Becker from Arnhem. These are combined with data which were given earlier by H.A. Lauwerier and Wim Lorjé and data from my own research.
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Last update: March 3rd, 2007
