Smets or De Smets - need decision for merge

Question

Smets or De Smets - need decison for merge

Answer 1

Hi Maggie,

As there’s no original baptism record both names could be right. However if you decide to use ‘De Smet’, then it should be ‘de Smet’. Based on both secondary sources in this case I would go for Smets.

Comments

For reference, "Dutch naming convention":  No exclusion of prepositions

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Aangezien het een BelgischeVlaamse naam is, is "De Smet" (dus het voorzetsel met hoofdletter) in principe goed. In België wordt de achternaam gespeld zoals de officiële functionaris dit opschreef. De vormen "Desmet", "De Smet" en "de Smet" kunnen voor Belgische namen allemaal. Als er geen doopakte is gebruik je de vorm en de naam die in de eerste "officiele" aantekening is gespeld. 

De link naar bron in het profiel werkt niet, dit record bevat zover ik kan zien geen goede bronnen. 

Verwijzing naar No exclusion of prepositions geld alleen voor de Nederlandse namen, voor een uitleg met ook Vlaamse regels zie Nederlandse en Vlaamse Naamvelden

Since it is a Belgian-Flemish name, "De Smet" (so the capitalized preposition) is basically good.  In Belgium, the surname is spelled as written by the official.  The forms "Desmet", "De Smet" and "de Smet" are all possible for Belgian names.  If there is no baptismal record, use the form and name spelled out in the first "official" note.

The link to the source in the profile does not work, this record does not contain any good sources as far as I can tell.

Reference to No exclusion of prepositions only applies to Dutch names, for an explanation including Flemish rules, see: Dutch and Flemish Namefields

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Thanks Joop!

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so LNAB should really be deSmets?

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or deSmet?

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if you write it as one word it is Desmet(s).

Do you have an original source of the person in question where the name is written?  If you don't have a direct source I wouldn't create a profile of that person.

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Hi Joop,

There are already 2 profiles for this person and the only thing that Maggie wants to know, what name would be most likely to be correct after the merge.

As there's only one profile that contains some kind of source (Geanet) in this case I would settle for De Smet. But that would be my opinion.

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Hallo Margreet, besefte ik ook, zie mijn antwoord wat ik direct daarna heb geplaatst, 

Alsnog met de beste wensen voor 2023, grote groet Joop 

Answer 2

In this case, with two existing profiles, Smet and De Smet, I would prefer De Smet.  Since sources of family members are mentioned in the biography in the profile of De Smet  and apparently the name De Smet is mentioned there, you can justify this.  I think you can find these sources via FamilySearch Catalog with the option to place direct links.

Mvg Joop