Smit

Family name


imagesize=100px
meaning=smith
region=the Netherlands
language=Dutch
related names=Smith
Smits

Smit is a Dutch surname deriving from the Dutch word for "smith" (metal worker), "". Therefore, it is the direct Dutch equivalent of the English surname Smith.Citation: Schulze, 2008]

Frequency of occurrence in general populations

Information for surname frequency in the Netherlands is limited by the end of comprehensive census taking in 1971. [Citation: Life Courses in Context. Project Plan.] The most recent readily available information is based on the 1947 census, for which both raw census data and surname frequency data have been made available to the general public. In 1947 there were 29,783 recorded people with the surname Smit, [Citation: Meertens Institute: Smit.] while the general census provides a figure of 9,519,000 as the 1947 population. [Citation: Dutch Census Digitization 1795-1971 Project.] Working with this data the frequency of the Smit surname in the Netherlands in 1947 can be calculated to be ~0.313% or ~3,130 of every 1,000,000 people. [(29,783/9,519,000)*100%; 1% = 1,000 occurrence per 1,000,000 people.] By comparison, the most common Dutch surname in the 1947 data was de Jong, which had a frequency of ~0.580%. [Citation: Meertens Institute: Jong, de.] [(55,256/9,519,000)*100%]

An imperfect comparison can be made to primary English-speaking countries as of 1998 based on research by The National Trust. In 1998, the highest frequency was observed in New Zealand as 97.18 occurrences per million people, or ~1/30th the rate found in the Netherlands of 50 years before.Citation: Longley, et al., 2008.] Among the nations examined in the National Trust study, relative frequencies for 1991 were: New Zealand > Australia Unicode|≅ Canada Unicode|≫ United States > Northern Ireland > Great Britain > Republic of Ireland. The substantial difference between Canada and the United States indicated in this series is approximately 3.5 fold.

Notable people sharing the Smit surname

Listed here are people who share the 'Smit' surname, organized by birth year, to assist in assembling a view of the geographic distribution of this surname over time. Modern country names are used below rather than historical names. First letter country abbreviations are used when runs of a particular country's nationals appear.

;Born after 1800
* Netherlands (1836–1929) Joseph Smit

;Born after 1900
* Netherlands (1900–1943) Leo Smit
* N. (1903–1986) Wisse Alfred Pierre Smit
* N. (1911–1974) Kick Smit
* N. (born 1916) Arie Smit, now a citizen of Indonesia
* United States (1921–1995) Leo Smit (American composer)
* Netherlands (1930–2008) Klaas Smit
* South Africa (or Namibia) (born 1935) Willem Smit
* S. (died 1977) Robert Smit (politician)
* Netherlands (living) Jan Smit (physicist)
* Netherlands (living) Dirk Smit

;Born after 1950
* Netherlands (born 1954) Tim Smit, emigrated to England
* N. (1961–2005) Peter Smit
* N. (born 1963) Carola Smit
* N. (born 1968) Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, whose adopted name was Mabel Martine Wisse Smit
* England (born 1972) Jane Smit
* Netherlands (born 1975)³ Minouche Smit, Marnix Smit, Theo M. Smit
* N. (born 1976)² Gretha Smit, Michiel Smit
* South Africa (born 1978) John Smit
* Netherlands (born 1980) Arvid Smit
* N. (born 1985)² Jan Smit (singer), Alexander Smit
* Canada (born 1950's) Richard Smit

Compound surnames

* Haagen-Smit: Netherlands (1900–1977) Arie Jan Haagen-Smit, emigrated to the United States
* Reus-Smit: Australia (born 1961) Christian Reus-Smit
* Smit-McPhee: Australia (born 1992) Sianoa Smit-McPhee and (born 1996) Kodi Smit-McPhee, who are

ee also

Other surnames

* Smits
* Smith

Disambiguation pages

* Jan Smit
* Robert Smit

Notes

References

* cite web |url= http://www.volkstellingen.nl/nl/volkstelling/imageview/VT1947A1H2/
title= Hoofdstuk II. het totale bevolkingscijfer |pages= page 13 |accessdate=2008-03-15
format= Scanned page image |work= Dutch Censuses 1795-1971 |language= Dutch
author= Dutch Census Digitization 1795-1971 Project
publisher= Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (through DANS Institute and in collaboration with NWO)
* cite web |url= http://www.lifecoursesincontext.nl/plan_long.html#census
title= Life Courses in Context. Project Plan. Section B: Census data |accessdate=2008-03-15
date= 2007-06-28 |publisher= International Institute of Social History
* cite web |url= http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk
title= Smit |accessdate= 2008-03-05
last= Longley |first= Paul |coauthors= Alex Singleton, Richard Webber and Daryl Lloyd
work= [http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/news/newsStory.asp?ID=151 SPLINT Project, University College London]
publisher= The National Trust Note that the full URL is http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/Statistics.aspx?name=SMIT&year=1998&altyear=1881&country=GB&type=name , but use of any url except the base included here seldom properly resolves.
* cite web |url= http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfd/detail_naam.php?naam=Jong,%20de
title= Jong, de |accessdate=2008-03-15 |work= Nederlandse Familienamen Databank
language= Dutch |publisher= Meertens Institute |author= Meertens Institute
* cite web |url= http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nfd/detail_naam.php?naam=Smit
title= Smit |accessdate=2008-03-15 |work= Nederlandse Familienamen Databank
language= Dutch |publisher= Meertens Institute |author= Meertens Institute
* cite web |url= http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/nn/pat.shtml |title= Dutch Patronymics of the 1600s
accessdate= 2008-03-05 |first= Lorine McGinnis |last= Schulze |date= 2008-03-04
work= New Netherland, New York Genealogy |publisher= Olive Tree Genealogy