[nopardons]

German ( which I am familiar with and speak a bit of )does sound a bit like Afrikaans and also somewhat like Flemish ( which I can say a simple sentence in ); however, German last names use a "VON", whilst Dutch ones use "VAN"!

And "Gheluwe" absolutely looks and sounds Dutch!

If the above name looks "soft sounding" to you, then just what does the absolutely DUTCH last name, Van Loon, look and sound like to you? What about Van Rensselaer...also a "purely" Dutch last name look/sound like to you?

Yes, you ARE wrong about this; however, word and name derivations are interesting topics.

And yes, this moron IS an American.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I am very aware of “von” vs. “van”; they simply mean “of” and really don’t count in the name.

Does not seem like the kind of string of syllables I’d expect from Germanic-only names.

Van Rensselaer - yes, I’m very aware of his name as a fan of the RevWar, and yes it is softer; a remnant of New Amsterdam and surroundings. I guess indeed they do have some softer syllables.