LE NOBEL

The Family Name

The Dutch surname “le Nobel,” as we have known it for many generations, is not the family’s original name. This name has changed three times over the course of the earliest generations.

 

Before 1700, when the family still lived in France, the name was the French lenoble (written as one word, with the capital “L” sometimes used and sometimes not). We believe this to be the case based on recent research in Ronq. Upon settling in the Netherlands, our oldest known progenitor, Jan Lenart Lenobel, was registered in the church records under the phonetically nearly identical and Dutchified name Lenobel (capital “L” and written as one word). Subsequently, we see the name change in the 3rd generation to Le Nobel (“Le” as a prefix with a capital “L” and “Nobel” with a capital “N”). It is not until the fifth generation—and not even uniformly across the board—that the spelling we know today emerges: le Nobel (“le” as a prefix in lowercase and “Nobel” with a capital “N”).

 

Second First Name

We see something similar happen with a first name that was once common in the family. As can be seen in various archives, this name was registered in the Netherlands both as a first name and as a last name. Originally written in French as Léonard, it was first written in the Netherlands as Lenart (see Progenitor), Later, these evolved into Leinaart, Lijnaart, Leijnaart, Leijnaard, Leinaar, Leijnaar, and Lijnaar, respectively. All are phonetically nearly identical, but spelled differently.

 

These name changes can be attributed to the fact that, prior to the French Revolution, there was no civil registry in the Netherlands, and family data was recorded exclusively in church registers. Name changes were common at the time and often occurred (sometimes by chance) because names were transcribed phonetically. This was done by clergy and other church officials, many of whom could not write or could write only poorly. As a result, names given orally were often recorded incorrectly. Consequently, this church administration left much to be desired. Following the gradual introduction of the Civil Registry (code civil) in the Netherlands starting in 1804, we no longer see the family name changing.

 

The number of people bearing the name in the *1947 census was 52. By the *2007 census, this number had risen to 56. This includes all le Nobels in the Netherlands, including those who are not part of our family history. It is striking that many le Nobels had settled primarily in the provinces of South Holland and North Holland (the Randstad). By 1947, only 2 (registered) le Nobels remained in Zeeland, the province where our Dutch family history began in the 18th century. The emigrated le Nobels are not included in the census.