"In every conceivable manner, the family is linked to our past, bridge to our future" Alex Haley 1921 - 1992

The origin of the Jaap surname

	The Dutch connection - or not?
	We were always told that we had originally come from Holland, although the only thing in favour of this theory was the fact that "Jaap" is a Dutch Christian name. Now, here's something to keep to ourselves - We've heard that the word "jaap" in Afrikaans is an offensive term, meaning a simpleton or a country bumpkin! Surely that can't be true? Well, we've started doing a bit of research and found the following: Microsoft Encarta: jaap - South Africa - an offensive term for a person from a rural area who is regarded as unsophisticated or unintelligent by urban people .. Reader's Digest Universal Dictionary: jaap - South African. Also japie. A simple-minded, innocent person; a country bumpkin [Afrikaans, from Jaap - pet form of Jakob, Jacob] . A South African living in Scotland recently told Fiona - jaapie is an Afrikaans word meaning monkey-like! The earliest Jaap in our line was documented as a Japp - Walter, born around 1698 in Dalgety, Fife, and from then on there were many variations of the name. In fact, the family of his son Walter, who was a Jape, included both Jaaps and Japps, and the next generation included Robert, who was a Jope. From Robert onwards, that branch of the family were all Jopes. Our own line eventually settled for the Jaap spelling, perhaps after moving from Fife to the west of Scotland towards the end of the 18th century. There are other variations of the name - Jap, Jopp, Jupp, Jappy, etc, and there's an interesting discussion on the origin in an excellent article published some years ago in the Scots magazine .
	The Scots magazine article