I have a problem something like this. Just an example…
“Whose pickelhaube is this?”
“Rudolf von Flugel’s.”
“Whose?”
“von Flugel’s.”
Now, is the “v” capitalized? Or do I even start with “von” or do I just start with “Flugel’s”.
It’s capitalized in German, likewise in English.
The ‘von’ as a nobiliary particle in a German name is not capitalized in German, except (as with all words) at the beginning of a sentence. So, capitalize it if and only if you would capitalize any other word in that position. The nobiliary particle is an integral part of the last name - Rudolf von Flugel’s last name is von Flugel, not just Flugel.
I’m not sure about German, but in dutch the ‘van’, ‘de’ or ‘der’ (or any combination of these) is capitalized if there is no first name mentioned. So it is:
Ruud van Nistelrooij and mister Van Nistelrooij
similarly it is
Rafael van der Vaart and mr. Van der Vaart
Is that Flugel or did you not write Flügel? Why is he called wing?
The exception to this rule, of course, is Hertz Van Rental.
I borrowed the name from Richard Scarry. He’s the fox flying the triplane.
Not to mention Camper Van Beethoven.
I’m sorry, but that cultural reference goes over my head.
If the character is a fox, then the traditional name would be Reineke Fuchs in German. Although that is so old, it evokes fairy-tales.
Richard Scarry is a children’s books author and artist. In this case it is just a pilot that happens to be depicted as a fox, not the generic fox that is flying an aeroplane.