# History of the surname "ten Pas"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263 "2009-09-23T18:10:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263/21 "2010-08-29T05:21:58Z")
> [@rtenpas](#): > > From what i have always been told as to the Origin of the surname “Ten Pas” is that it mean “at the woods” or “of the Woods” that’s what my grandfather told me when i was younger, which would make sense because from what i understand his family clan were farmers and lived in a very rural community in southern Netherlands approximately 20 miles from the German border. I have never really looked into it but there may be some German influence in the name as well. The winner, obviously. “Pas” is a dialectical variant of the more standard _bosch_, I imagine. _Ten_ is almost certainly a contraction of _te den_ (“to the”), _den_ being an obsolete objective case inflection of the masculine definite article _de_. Dutch no longer inflects the article for case in regular usage, but the old forms are preserved in stock phrases and names. _Te_ is literally translated as “to”, but like German _zu_ means “at” or even “of” in some contexts, especially in family names. In the case of German names it’s almost always an indication of noble heritage, and is even rarer than “von”. Traditionally, having the last nane “zu X” meant that your family not only were the traditional lords of X since time immemorial, but that you still retain it. “Von und zu X” is another variation of this. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263/22 "2010-08-29T05:24:23Z")
ETA: May I say that I swoon with pride at being a moderator on a message board where, when somebody asks what the name “ten Pas” means, somebody actually named Ten Pas joins to answer the question. Welcome to the boards, **rtenpas**! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263/23 "2010-08-29T15:09:01Z")
Welcome, rtenpas. Now I’m starting to wonder when Mr. or Ms. [14kofginafpd](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=398132) will show up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263/24 "2010-08-29T15:48:58Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > > [@Askance](#): > > > > There was a guy on TV here last night called **Marc in het Panhuis** , which again I assume is also Dutch, but I’ve never seen a name in that form before. > > “Mark of the pancake house???” Maybe not. Sure, if he was named “of the waffle house” he’d be Belgian not Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263/25 "2010-08-29T15:55:15Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > [ > Hesselinks are all over the place in my home area too. Lots of other -inks and -dinks too. Vennegoor of Hesselink is actually his surname (his first name is easier to handle ‘Jan’). It always makes me laugh when he steps on the pitch as his name barely fits on his jersey. He is (or was, his career is nearing it’s end) a fairly decent player, good enough to play for the Netherlands. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-surname-ten-pas/511263.md?page=1)