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Van der Wal

name; Dutch toponymic surname

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ65557890 ↗
Source-derived summary

Van der Wal (or van de Wal, Vander Wal, Vanderwal, van de Wall, VanderWaal) is a toponymic surname of Dutch origin. The name most likely means someone who lived in the vicinity of the Waal (river) in the Netherlands, a branch of the Rhine. A less likely explanation is the original bearer of the name may have lived or worked at or near a "wal": a river embankment, quay, or rampart. In 2007, Van de(r) Wal was the 47th most common surname in the Netherlands (15,646 people). In Belgium, the form Van de Walle is more abundant.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Van der Wal” as name; Dutch toponymic surname. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where name, Dutch and toponymic can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as name; Dutch toponymic surname. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q65557890. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Van der Wal”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Van der Wal primary sources, Van der Wal archive and name research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Van der Wal”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Van der Wal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.