Yes. A potato. I know, I know, those aren’t period. But grab a nice drink and sit yourself down. This story is CUTE! Once again I am taking you to the north of my country: Friesland

In 1905, a potato farmer and farming teacher in Friesland named Kornelis Lieuwes de Vries had grown a new type of potato. He was in the habit of doing that, just growing and inventing new crop. His other habit was naming those creations after his school children. Enter a diligent girl named Bintje Jansma, one of his students. Kornelis saw the same characteristics in his new potato! It grew diligently as well and so the new potato was named after his student Bintje.

But, this would not be a post about anthroponomy if we weren’t going to look at that name: Bintje.

Bintje is a merger of Bin and Tje. Tje (or tie) is always a diminutive. A man called Bint or Binne, could have a daughter named Bintje and especially in Friesland this was very common. But also in other places in The Netherlands there would be fathers named Jan, with daughters named Jantje.

My sources for the origins of this name are iffy from this point on, unfortunately. One source tells me bint literally means daughter in Frisian, but another contradicts that. Bern in Frisian means children. A fourth source brings it all back to the name Benedictus. I am also aware ‘bint’ means daughter in Arabic, and that especially is very cool, I think. Frisians were known for their excellent wool, Pallia Fresonica, and in the days of Charlemagne they travelled far and wide. Who know, is Bintje coming from Arabic? Wouldn’t that be cool!

But I need proof in documentation from the genealogical archives. The first mention of Binne in Friesland dates from the year 1534, where a gentleman named Binne Jouckes can be found in a court document from Leeuwarden.

Then I found a bride named Bints, which is the same name as Bintje. She gets married on March 26, 1600:

Remember: don’t just use an Ancestry entry. Be sure to click on the actual links to see the original document! Not only is this a LOT MORE FUN, you also get to verify the data listed.

I am now in the mood for potatoes…