Surname Straten - Meaning and Origin
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Straten: What does the surname Straten mean?
The last name Straten is a Dutch surname. It may refer to people who come from a place called “Straten” or who lived on a “Strat”, which translates to road, street, or path. It is thought that the name Straten originated as an occupation-based surname, referring to people who were road builders or who traveled along roads, such as merchants, peddlers, or vagrants.
Alternatively, it is thought that the name Straten could have been derived from other Dutch terms like “straat”, which translates to an open street with houses on both sides. This could be seen as a reference to living in a placid, peaceful environment or even a reference to towns or villages that have streets wide enough to house both a resident’s house and stables.
The name Straten is quite common in the Netherlands, with over 5,000 variations of the name appearing on records between 1900 and 2020. The name is particularly common in the Netherlands’ western regions, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and Zeeland. Many people with the surname Straten have traces of German, French, and Dutch heritage, lending further credibility to the theory that the name is derived from the Dutch word “straat”.
In conclusion, the last name Straten has optimistically been used as a descriptor for many different things over the centuries and is still in use today. Depending on the origin, it has been used to describe a road, a street, a path, or a peaceful way of living. Depending on the context, the name Straten may represent a familial legacy of travels, of road-building, or of peaceful life.
Order DNA origin analysisStraten: Where does the name Straten come from?
The last name Straten is a Dutch name, which means "streets" in English. It is common in the Netherlands and Belgium, where it is one of the 100 most common surnames. It is also found in other places around the world, such as the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, where people with Dutch ancestry have settled.
In the United States, the name Straten is most commonly found in the Midwest. According to the US Census Bureau, there are 11,400 people with the last name Straten in the U.S. The majority of them (80 percent) live in the Midwest, with the states of Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa having the greatest concentration. The rest are scattered around other parts of the country, mostly in states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, and California.
In Canada, the last name Straten is also quite common, with over 3,100 people having it in the 2006 census. It is found mostly in Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta, with smaller concentrations in other provinces.
In Germany, there are just under 2,000 people with the last name Straten, with the highest concentration in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, and Berlin.
Straten is also found in other places around the world, such as Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in Europe and Central Asia. In total, there are over 16,500 people with the last name Straten worldwide.
Variations of the surname Straten
The surname Straten is of Dutch origin, and can be spelled in various ways including Stratten, Straaten, Straten, and Stratton. It can also have a more Anglicised spelling of Stratton or Stratting.
The earliest known spelling for the surname Straten is Straat, which is derived from the medieval Dutch word ‘street’, meaning ‘road’. This was common in the Netherlands to have the suffix ‘-en’ added to family names, which resulted in a change in spelling. The surname appears occasionally in documents throughout the Netherlands between the 16th and 18th centuries.
Variations in spelling can have given way to a number of different spellings for the surname. Besides the earlier mentioned versions, some modern spellings of the surname are Stratton, Strating, Stratizen, Stratelow, Strathoff, Stratchedhead, Stratfuss, Strateux, and Stratsega.
A number of variants and spellings of the surname Straten have developed over time, some of which now have a distinctively variant surname. For example, Strachan is a Scottish variant; Stratcher is an American variant; and Strachan and Strakes are British surnames. Other English variants include Struthers, Strickland, and Strickliner.
Due to the many variations of the surname Straten, some spellings of the surname are now considered distinct surnames in their own right, with their own unique heritage. However, the many variations of the same surname reflect the diversity of its origins.
Famous people with the name Straten
- Patrick Straten: Former professional Footballer for SC Heerenveen Football Club
- Willem Straten: Dutch watercolorist and marine painter
- George Straten: CEO and co-founder of startup firm, Welp.
- Carel Straten: Dutch professional windsurfer
- Alec Straten: Australian Actor who has appeared in Neighbours, Cloudstreet, and Love My Way
- Richard Straten: Dutch entrepreneur and technology pioneer
- Olga Straten: Dutch painter, sculptor, and illustrator
- Jan Willem Straten: Former Politician and State Secretary of Social Affairs and Employment of the Netherlands
- Alice Straten: Dutch interior designer and garden designer
- Hendrik Straten: Dutch poet, author and journalist