Dutch name lived, by the suffix -ma or -stra ( of Frisian), or -ing or -ink (of Low Saxon origin). Examples: Dijkstra (after a dyke near the place they came from); Halbertsma ( after an ancestor called Halbert); Wiebing ( after an ancestor called Wiebe); Hesselink ( after an ancestor called Hessel). After 1811, many patronymics became permanent surnames such that Peeters, Jansen, Willems are common surnames today. The most common Dutch surnames in the Netherlands (as of 1947) and Flanders in Belgium are listed to the right. Meertens' Dutch surname database lists 94143 different family names; the total Dutch speaking population
Demographics of Belgium world: 155th Belgian 75%, Italian 4.1%, Moroccan 3.7%, French 2.4%, Turkish 2%, Dutch 2%, other 12.8% (2011 est.) Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1% Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant and other Christian 2.5%, Muslim 5%, Jewish 0.4%, Buddhist 0.3%, atheist 9.2%, none 32.6% (2009 est.) Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2003 est.) noun: Belgian(s) <br>adjective: Belgian The country is populated by a Flemish majority of about 6,400,000 people speaking Dutch, a French-speaking minority of 4,100,000 people (Walloons and French-speakers in Brussels), as well as 73,000 German speaking people in Wallonia, near the