Recorded as Medendorp, and the rare Meedendorp and Meedendorpe, this is a Netherlands (Dutch) surname. Like most Netherlands names it is locational from some place or places whose meaning is apparently "The joined (meeden) settlement (dorp)" and probably accurately described a settlement or perhaps farm adjoining the town of Meeden. Dorp is the same as the Scandanavian Viking word torp, and this generally described a hamlet, settlement or even a single dairy farm, some distance from a main village or town. Locational surnames in most countries are "from" names. That is to say names given to people as easy identification after they left a particular place to move somewhere else. However the Netherlands, and in England Cornwall, and in Scotland the North and North East, people were named because they lived at a certain place. Not surprisingly this lead to considerable problems of identification and the development of local surnames on the lines of Jones, the butcher, Jones, the baker etc. In this case we have recordings from early surviving Dutch church registers which . include Klaas Medendorp, christened at Stedum, Groningen, on June 1st 1749, and Harm Meedendorp who married Aaltje Thaden, at Meeden, Groningen, on January 31st 1867.

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