Van Dusen
A Dutch-origin surname built from the particle Van plus a place-based name, originally meaning “from Dusen” or a similar locality.
The #9,227 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 87,488 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Van Dusen is a Dutch-style surname formed with van, meaning “from” or “of,” plus a second element that likely refers to a place name. In many such names, the second part is a lost, altered, or surname-like toponym rather than a transparent modern Dutch word, so the literal source of Dusen is not always certain. The name is best understood as an old Dutch locational surname meaning a family “from Dusen” or from a similarly named place.
History
The name appears in Dutch-American records in several spelling forms, including Van Dusen and related names such as Vanduzee. In the United States it was carried by early Dutch settlers and their descendants, especially in areas of former New Netherland such as New York and New Jersey. Later spelling simplification often fused Van and the surname element into the single written form Vandusen.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Van- surnames in Dutch-American genealogy often preserve a clue to an ancestor’s origin even when the exact place-name has faded from modern maps.
From the historical record
“Vaccari, Vahey, Vanbushirk, Vance, Van Den- burgh, Vanderhoff, Vanderlip, Vanderslice, Van- dervoort, Vandusen, Vanduzee, Vanee, Vanevar and Vannevar, Van Heukelon, Vanhorn, Van Nostrand, Van Praag, Vanstane, Van Vliet, Van Wagner, Varenti, Varney, Varnum, Varrell, Vaught, Veagher; Veasey, Veazie, and Vesey; Veber…”
— Suffolk Surnames (3rd ed.)