Jun 15, 2026
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Overijssel’s Hidden Family Stories
Uncover the Saxon roots and meanings behind Dutch surnames that travelled from Zwolle to the world.
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Love Netherlands
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Dear Netherlands,
Every Dutch village has a bell tower, a market square, a brown café, and a bakery older than the country it sits in. The magic of the Netherlands isn’t Amsterdam. It’s the 400 other places that don’t need to try. Places like Thorn, where every house is painted white. Places like Giethoorn, where nobody has ever driven to the shop.
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Photo via Love Netherlands
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In today’s email:
- Dutch Surnames of Overijssel: Origins and Meanings
- At The Café — In de Wildeman — Amsterdam’s Quietest Beer Cathedral
- Around The Web — Dutch Surnames of Limburg: Origins and Meanings, 5-Day Dutch Heritage Itinerary: Trace Your Roots Across the Netherlands, Dutch Surnames of North Brabant: Origins and Meanings + more
- From Love Netherlands — Maastricht Day Trip from Amsterdam: The Complete Guide
- Dutch Food You Will Love — Tompouce — The Dutch Pastry Built Like a Sandwich
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Dutch Surnames of Overijssel: Origins and Meanings
👉 Read the full story
Your opa may have grown up near a river in the east. Your betsie may have tended sheep on the sandy Twente heathlands. If your Dutch surname ends in -ink or -huis , Overijssel is likely where your roots lie. This province in the eastern Netherlands shaped millions of family names. Those names still travel the world today. Overijssel sits between the flat western Netherlands and the German border. It has three distinct regions: Salland in the west, Twente in the east, and the IJssel towns in the north. Each shaped family names in its own way. Knowing your region helps you trace your roots more quickly. Overijssel: Three Regions, Three Naming Traditions Overijssel means “over the IJssel”. It sits east of the IJssel river. The province was part of the old duchy of Guelders and later the Hanseatic trading network. Cities like Zwolle, Deventer, and Kampen were powerful merchant towns. They…
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Have you been there? Do you have a memory of this corner of the Netherlands? Hit reply and tell us — we’d love to hear your story.
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At The Café
In de Wildeman — Amsterdam’s Quietest Beer Cathedral
In de Wildeman is hidden down an alley off the Nieuwendijk, a former 18th-century distillery turned proeflokaal — a tasting room. The room is dark wood, low ceilings, brass taps, and a wall lined with hundreds of glass bottles. There’s no music. No televisions. The menu has more than 250 beers including 18 on tap, and the staff genuinely know which one to put in your hand based on what you’ve eaten that day. Order a Trappist, take a stool at the back bar, and listen to a city you thought you couldn’t escape.
👉 Visit the café
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Around The Web
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From Love Netherlands
Planning a Maastricht day trip from Amsterdam is one of the best decisions you can make on a visit to the Netherlands. While most tourists spend their time in Amsterdam’s canals or Rotterdam’s bold architecture, Maastricht offers something entirely different: a Roman-founded city with medieval streets, exceptional food, and a southern European warmth that sets it apart from every other Dutch destination. The journey takes around two and a half…
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Photo via Love Netherlands
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Dutch Food You Will Love
Tompouce — The Dutch Pastry Built Like a Sandwich
A tompouce is two crisp layers of puff pastry sandwiching a slab of vanilla pastry cream, topped with a layer of bright pink fondant icing. It’s the dessert that signals minor celebration in the Netherlands — birthdays at the office, retirements, Friday afternoons. On King’s Day the icing turns orange instead of pink. The tompouce is impossible to eat tidily and the Dutch love arguing about whether you should attack it from the side with a fork or just give in and eat it with your hands. The official answer is: there is no official answer.
👉 Read the full story
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