Van-names are alphabetized by the particle or the base name depending on cultural convention.
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Reference discussions on bibliographic conventions indicate that the ordering and alphabetization of names containing 'van' depend heavily on specific regional and cultural traditions, such as different rules applied in the Netherlands versus Belgium or Germany.
# How should 'van'-names be ordered in a bibliography?
Tags: citations, personal-name, citation-style
- Score: 38
- Views: 66471
- Answers: 3
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Danger Fourpence (795 rep)
- Asked: 2013-03-25
- Edited: 2014-10-21
- Site: academia
## Question
How would names with 'van', written in the Dutch style - e.g. van Beukering, J., be ordered in a bibliography?
Do we count the 'van' element so that e.g. van Beukering, J. would be some point after Campbell, S. - or do ignore the 'van' element so that the first letter is and would therefore come before Campbell in a bibliography?
Does this depend on whether the author uses the Dutch 'van X' style or the American 'Van X'? Obviously concatenated forms such as Vancouver, C. would be counted as .
## Answers
### Answer by Pieter Naaijkens (score: 29 [ACCEPTED])
This depends on the specific style or country. In the Netherlands, surnames are sorted by the "main" part, so van Beukering would come before Campbell. On the other hand, in Belgium it is sorted by the first letter of the surname. There capitalization is also dependent on how the name is registered in the passport. In the Netherlands, one would write "Van Beu
# Position of infixes of names (e.g. “van”) in bibliographies
Tags: citations, citation-style, personal-name
- Score: 9
- Views: 6477
- Answers: 3
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Cutú Chiqueño (193 rep)
- Asked: 2015-11-11
- Edited: 2020-06-10
- Site: academia
## Question
When I create a bibliography, do infixes of names always go with the surname as follows?
Van de Sompel, Herbert
van Leeuwen, Theo
The examples come from bibliographies I have within my collection where this style is used. My question is more about whether this claim is generalizable. More precisely, are there differences between different style guides or depending on the background of the name?
## Answers
### Answer by jakebeal (score: 11 [ACCEPTED])
Unfortunately, it's complicated. The proper organization and alphabetization of names is dependent on the identified nationality of the person in question. Thus, a German "van" name is handled differently than a Dutch "van" name. It may change further again upon immigration, e.g., Americans of Dutch or German origin typically follow English conventions or even remove the space.
Here is a nice guide to navigating these muddy waters, as well as a question from the
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