Talk:Graaff baronets

Spelling of the name Graaf/Graaff
His name is genuinely de Villiers Graaf - see this --New Progressive 12:02, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Beefart says yes and no: 'Sir de Villiers Graaff' is absolutely correct. (Trust me. My grandmother was a Boer, I grew up amongst these good people, I speak their language fluently, I dwelled in South Africa for thirty years and I know the Graaff family personally. I was at university with the granddaughter of Sir de Villiers and I visited at their farm near Ceres in the Bokkeveld. Note: (1) the surname is Graaff, with two effs, not Graaf. By the way, the name is not pronounced Graf. It is Xraaaff, where the X represents the gutteral sound of ch in the Scottish word loch. If you are from New York or LA, give up now..... :) (2) the given name ("Christian name" if you will) is de Villiers. Small d. Amongst Afrikaners, most surnames are of Dutch origin and often contain the words de, der, van, van de, van der or van den. Van means from and de(r)(n) means 'the'. So de Groot means the Great and van der Woude means from the Forest (3) It is common for Afrikaners to use surnames as given names. Thus the politician of the 1960's who opposed the Apartheid regime was van Zyl Slabbert. His given name was "van Zyl", with the small v and everyone called him 'van Zyl' (pronounced Fun-zhail). A noted Afrikaner poet was N.P. van Wyk Louw (4) South Africa was part of the Commonwealth. Graaff was knighted. He was therefore Sir de Villiers Graaff and, had he gone on his knee before his sovereign, the Queen would have said to him "Arise, Sir de Villiers".
 * The surname “Graaff” is absolutely correct. It is true that their name is often miss-spelt “Graaf” (such is the case with the Graaff highway in Jo'burg) however Graaff is the original and still used spelling of the surname.  - Discott 19:30, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Graaff is spelled with two 'f's. - Arthur R 17:39, 3 April 2007 (UTC)