Dutch Crossing
Dutch Crossing is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal devoted to all aspects of Low Countries studies: history and art history, Dutch and Flemish (and occasionally Afrikaans) literary and cultural studies, Dutch language, Dutch as a foreign language, and intercultural and transnational studies. Its stated purpose is to cover "all aspects of 'Global Dutch', not only the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium but also other places where Dutch historically had or continues to have an impact, including parts of the Americas, Southern Africa, and South-East Asia." A special focus concerns exchanges between the Low Countries and the English-speaking world in all periods from the late Middle Ages to the present day. "Dutch Crossing" is the official journal of the Association for Low Countries Studies."
Dutch name
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 in Europe is estimated to be about 23 million people. The most common Dutch names in Belgium are nearly all patronymic ""father-based"" names in which they are composed with the following formula "name of father + "-son"," the only exceptions being ""De Smet"" (the Smith) and - to a certain extent, because it is also a patronymic ("Thomas") - ""Maes"" (Meuse). The most common Dutch names in the Netherlands are more diverse, with names ranging from ""Visser"" (fisherman) to ""Van Dijk"" ((living along) the dike) and ""De Jong"" (the young (one)). It should be remembered however that these figures are based on the data of an entire country, and on a smaller scale other names tend to dominate certain regions.