Old Dutch for Nigtevecht was Niftervecht, which seems to mean "aan de Vecht" or "at the Vecht". But Nifter has a broader meaning, like "near" or "bend" (Dutch "bocht"). Old Dutch and English share similarities; you can hear it in "nigh" and "to the River Vecht", hence "nigh to the Vecht". The town name dates back to 1281, when Count Willem IV of Holland granted Vecht farmers the right to dam the river and use the water to irrigate their land. The river name "Vecht" is of Roman origin, mentioned in Roman documents. There was a Roman fort called Castellum Fectio at Vechten near Utrecht, built by Drusus between 12 BC and AD 39. At that time, the river branch with the Rhine ran through the centre of Utrecht. The river seems to have been named after Fectio., see Dutch Archeological PDF - Referring to Castella Fectiolater called Feht or Fehtna . After the great flood disaster of 1200 the river was known as the Vecht. The area was Frisian from long before the Romans until around 600, the language shares a common ancestor known as Old English or Anglo-Frisian. This is why Nigtevecht sounds so close to Nigh-to-the-Vecht. In Frisian the children are "de Bens".
The village grew in importance, though today it appears rather small. The French and Prussians wrecked the village, but it regained its position in the wider area owned by nobility and royals, known as “the royal land jewel”. Peter the Great visited here. According to the “Kerk Nigtevecht” website, there was a place called “Petersburg”, a princely “landjuweel” on the Vecht. The name was taken from Tsar Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, who visited this area several times during his stay in 1717., see kerknigtevecht.nl. The Lordship of Nigtevecht was a significant title being responsible to be the caretaker of this area.
There are still several families with the name "van Nigtevecht" that may have originated from this place. My name comes from this place, but it is highly unlikely there is a direct link to the Huydecoper family, unless someone married into it and took the name "van Nigtevecht" due to the male line. In that case, the female name should have been recorded as "van Nigtevecht - Huydecoper", which I have not found anywhere. That said, registration among commoners was inconsistent and relied on church archives, many of which were destroyed by invading armies or lost in fires. It did not help that Catholics from the south and Protestants from the north of Holland plundered extensively.
Napoleon further complicated matters when he invaded Holland and forced people to adopt fixed surnames instead of descriptions like "Gerrit, son of the baker in Weesp, brother of the miller in Muiden". Nobles retained their names. The name "van Nigtevecht" is linked to "Huydecoper" as a noble title; there is no record indicating otherwise. Many people from this village adopted the village name during the Napoleonic period. Within a noble family, the title was typically passed only to the eldest son. Yet some genealogy websites list the full surname as "Hudecoper van Nigtevecht" even for those not part of the nobility, while others were. Some are recorded simply as "Huydecoper" even when linked to the noble family. Only a few carried the lordship or "Sir" title.
This is a sample of the Huydecoper family at ( source hallet.nl ) making a distinction between Huydecoper with a nobel title like adding "Lord of Nigtevecht", and those without. "They are an Amsterdam mayoral and patrician family. Several members held administrative positions as directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and Dutch West India Company (WIC), the admiralty, and the state. However, it began with extensive merchant activity, and the various in-laws all have a trading past. In 1814, Jan Willem Huydecoper was appointed to the Knighthood of Holland, and thus he and his descendants became members of the Dutch nobility." Interestingly, they used blue on the left side on their Coat of Arms.
The name Nigtevecht became part of Huydecoper through the lordship of Nigtevecht. Within the Huydecoper family, many were merchants, bankers, lawyers, and at times held positions at the Dutch royal court, likely due to their wealth, power, and education. Records related to "the forgotten Anglo-Dutch War" mention "Jonkhheer Hudecoper van Nigtevecht", which is more akin to "Sir" than "Lord".
I was able to trace the name "van Nigtevecht" back to the early 1600's by the name of Claesz Jans Van Nigtevecht, found at ( source genealogy.com ). But for some reason there is a missing link between my great-great-grandfather and the family back to Claesz Jansz. There is a gap of almost 200 years. This may be due to birth and burial records not yet found, or lost because of religious and national wars, perhaps also in accidental church fires.
Most of the van Nigtevecht family lived at the time in Loosdrecht, Weesp, and Breukelen, and a few in Amsterdam, all close to the area of Nigtevecht itself. Note that "van" was used to mean "coming from". It is quite possible that different families with the name "van Nigtevecht" exist but are not genetically related.
