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In some cases, even an existing non-noble von became noble, or vice versa, therefore the same surname sometimes would be shared by noble and non-noble individuals. Especially in the Northwest (Bremen, Hamburg, Holstein, Lower Saxony, Schleswig, Westphalia) and in German-speaking Switzerland, von is a frequent element in non-noble surnames. [1]
von – "of", "from"; often a sign of nobility, but also just a geographical term of the name originated of a location. zu - ( German ) "at"; a sign of nobility, sometimes in the combination von und zu , meaning the noble family still owns the place of naming
In German personal names, von is a preposition which approximately means 'of' or 'from' and usually denotes some sort of nobility.While von (always lower case) is part of the family name or territorial designation, not a first or middle name, if the noble is referred to by their last name, use Schiller, Clausewitz or Goethe, not von Schiller, etc.
Prominent non-noble families having used particles are von Cappelen, von der Lippe, and de Créqui dit la Roche. The preposition til (English: to , but translates as of ; comparable with German zu ) is placed behind a person's full name in order to denote his or her place of residence, for example Sigurd Jonsson til Sudreim .
The inflation of fake nobility is one of the major concerns of the Adelsrechtsausschuss, and it is up to the commission to determine whether a person should be considered noble or non-noble. For instance, the German-American businessman Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt was born as Hans Robert Lichtenberg in Germany.
The preposition von ("of") was used to distinguish nobility; for example, if someone was baron of the village of Veltheim, his family name would be von Veltheim. In modern times, people who were elevated to nobility often had a 'von' added to their name. For example, Johann Wolfgang Goethe had his name changed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ...
Russian did not in general employ a nobiliary particle before a surname (as von in German or de in French); however, the Russian name suffix -skij which means “of” and is equal to “von” and “de” was used in many noble surnames especially topographic surnames as nobiliary particle.
Von is a Germanic-language preposition that approximately means of or from. When it prefixes a surname it is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence. When it prefixes a surname it is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence.