My surname, "Cronjé " is incorrectly interpreted for 'Name meaning'
Cronjé families will sincerely appreciate it if you would please alter the definition of our surname. Thank you in advance.☺️ There are many sources that will confirm the correction.
This is the interpretation on FamilySearch which is incorrect:
Americanized spelling of Dutch Croons (a patronymic from Kroon ) or of German, Dutch, or Jewish Krantz . Compare Krontz .
LOAD TEST -- Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
SEE: https://ancestors.familysearch.org/93FP-892/cornelius-leonard-cronje-1906-1988
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This is correct.
CRONJÉ is a French Huguenot name from the Normandy region, France. The Cronjé brothers, Estienne and Pierre (Cronje, Crognet, Crosnier, Cronier, (their father's name in France, Caron)) arrived in 1698 at the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa from Holland on the ship "Driebergen". They were Protestant refugees fleeing from the tyranny of Catholic persecution. The spelling stabilized as "CRONJÉ" in South Africa. All people with the surname Cronjé, wherever they are, have a South African connection.
Some well researched and documented sources:
- Botha, Colin Graham. The French refugees at the Cape. Cape Town, Cape Times Ltd., 1919. pp.12,47,65,69,95,117.
- Malherbe, D.F. duToit. Famiily Register of the South African nation, 3rd ed., Stellenbosch: Tegniek Stellenbosch, 1966. p.188.
- Coertzen, Pieter. The Huguenots of South Africa 1688-1988. Contributing author, Charles Fensham. Cape Town: Tafelberg Publishers, 1988. pp.81,100,119,121.
Answers
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You'll need to take this up with the author or publisher of the surname dictionary; FamilySearch is just quoting what it says.
For whatever it's worth, I have yet to encounter an actually-correct surname derivation on a FamilySearch page. I choose to ignore this: genealogy is not the same thing as onomastics, and while both are hobbies of mine, I don't expect them to perfectly overlap.
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