What’s In A Name?
To a large extent Jan Willem Lomans represented the last of the traditionally Dutch generations in the Loomans family’s history. His surname was written with a single ‘o’ and was left unchanged until he and the family immigrated to the United States in 1844.
Interestingly, surnames were not enforced before Napoleon Bonaparte made a rule in 1811 that said every citizen must have one (most people in the Netherlands never bothered before that). Some households may have held a family name but simply never formalized it, mostly because they were never asked. Surnames were commonly derivatives of the household head’s first name or a characteristic of the area the family occupied.
The new surname policy gave some Dutch people the chance to show their sense of humor.
Because many did not think the new requirement would last, some chose ridiculous names such as De Keyser (meaning “the emperor”) or Naaktgeboren (translating to “born naked”). Little did they know that many of their surname choices would stick for generations, just as the Loomans name has been kept for the last several centuries.
Even with those who decided to add some humor, most Dutch people chose patronymic surnames (that is, the name was based on the name of a forbearer such as in Pieterszoon or “Peter’s Son; Peterson”).
Others chose surnames based on a landmark they lived near or their place of origin. This was the likely case for our ancestors who used the Old Dutch word loh which meant meadow or clearing as a way to identify their origins as farmers in the vast pasture of a clearing. Some early records of the elder Teunis (1704-1784) show his surname as “Loman,” which could be a nod to a man of the clearing, given that the Dutch word for “man” is in fact “man.”
“The Loman surname could be a nod to a ‘man of the clearing’ given the Dutch word for ‘man’ is ‘man’ and ‘loh’ means ‘meadow’ or ‘clearing’.”
It seems reasonable to suggest that the name was used generations before Napoleon’s law went into effect, however, during this period surnames were not nearly as necessary as what they are today.
While it remains rare, the surname Loomans is only found in about 0.9 of every 1 million people in the United States, with only about 2,600 people using it globally—so if you are a Loomans, you’re rare!
Over time the name has morphed: letters added and others dropped, as written records were created and parts of the family immgrated between countries and areas. In modern-day Netherlands, those with the surnames of Lomans, Loman, Looman, and the like could very well be descendants of Hendrick Lomans, or even stretch back further.
For the direct line of lineage descending from Jan Willem, however, the Lomans name would soon find an additional “o” added upon entry in New York, making Jan Aalbert the last member of the family to truly retain the original surname.