What is the meaning of the last name "Tabak"???

Question:

What is the meaning of the last name "Tabak"???

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Gary,
I have a lot of Dutch roots. In fact, I tell my mother that she is probably the only person in America who is 3rd generation american and 100% Dutch heritage!! My point is that I have done a lot of Dutch genealogy and take my word for it. Tabak is definitely a Dutch name. A good many of the Tabak population has their roots in the Groningen province of the Netherlands. A good free website for you to research your Tabaks is

http://www.genlias.nl/en/page0.jsp...

This is the web address to Genlias. It can be accessed in both Dutch and English. There are over 500 hits on this name. Genlias is a joint product of the regional history centers and state archives in the Netherlands. I know a gentleman through our common hobby who transcribes records for this project. At the current time there are over 9.5 million records to access on this site.

The nice part is that if you can find your immigrating ancestor, you will likely be able to take it back to at least 1811 through the website. Remember, if the person you are researching has an americanized name like John or Henry, you will need to try the Dutch/European spelling of Jan or Hendrik. If you need help with this, drop me an E-mail. There is a decent list of English to Dutch name translations at the following website:

http://www.usgenweb.org/research/dutch-n...

To go back past 1811, you need to realize that most of the Dutch didn't adopt surnames until 1811. At that time, Napolean had conquered the Netherlands and ordered that a civil registry be set up. This is when people registered permanent surnames. There were a few surnames prior to this time, but not many. Prior to that the Dutch used Patronymic names. For example. If your given name was Jan and your father was Hendrik you would be known as Jan Hendriks. If you had a child and named him after your son like most of the Dutch did, he would be Hendrik Jans. In other words, the last name changed with each generation.

I know that there is a lot of information in this small answer. If you have any questions about anything I've written, just drop me a line. Blessings.

The others were right. Tabak is the Dutch word for tobacco.