Flemish - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Kinship is recognized bilaterally by family naming practices, but with an emphasis on the patriline. Upon marriage, the family names from both husband and wife are combined into a "household" name by which the nuclear family it creates is known; thus Geert DeJonge (the groom) and Kristin Vandeputte (the bride) create the family DeJonge-Vandeputte, but only the wife (and the business they operate, if any) adopts the combined last name. The children from this couple are given the family name DeJonge, unless the wife's family name is of high social rank.

Kinship Terminology. Most kin terms are based on descent/ascent and collateral relationships, and they are distinguished by gender: moeder , vader, grootmoeder, grootvader (mother, father, grandmother, grandfather); dochter, zoon (daughter, son); zuster, broer (sister, brother); tante, oom (aunt, uncle); neef , nicht (nephew, niece). Other kin terms are ascriptive, denoting a social, fictive kinship that echoes genealogical kinship but indicates specific social responsibilities and duties, such as meter, peter (godmother, godfather).