Talk:nee

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Wikipedia content[edit]

Here's some stuff to incorporate from Wikipedia: —Simetrical (talk) 11:12, 8 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]


The French word née (or the anglicized form nee) is commonly used in some English-language contexts, e.g. in many newspapers, when mentioning the maiden name of a woman in engagement or wedding announcements. Née is the feminine form of the past participle of naître (to be born) and means born in the French language.

In common usage, it often appears like this:

Jane Doe (née Dawson) announced the birth of a baby...

The "née" indicates that Jane's last name had changed from Dawson to Doe.

Sometimes, the person's entire original name is written, but that is usually only in special cases: Conventionally, née indicates a birth name, that is, a surname, as forenames are deemed to be given after birth, as at christenings.

The masculine form, is less common but is occasionally used to give the birth name of a man who has changed his name for some reason. Née and are also used more generally to denote former names (as opposed to birth names), and earlier names of inanimate entities such as companies and products.


Can you give some examples of words with and without nee ? — This unsigned comment was added by 111.93.144.182 (talk) at 20:38, 15 December 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Do you mean using a synonym? born is a synonym for the first sense (Ety 1), formerly for the second. DCDuring TALK 16:29, 14 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Dutch usage note[edit]

@Morgengave, Azertus The usage note says nee "is archaic in spoken language, but quite common in written language until recently". Is that also true for Belgian Dutch? I thought it still is more common in Belgium. ←₰-→ Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 11:35, 22 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Neen is not archaic in Belgium; it is just a more stressed (and hence a less frequently used) form, i.e. it's used to say nee more forcefully or with more emphasis. Even in the NLs, I suppose, it's at most "dated" in the spoken language, not "archaic"? Morgengave (talk) 21:21, 22 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Okay, I've edited the usage note to reflect Belgian usage; I suspect it is also old-fashioned in South America. To be honest I'm not sure which term is more appropriate; I wouldn't expect to hear it in the Netherlands in standard language unless it is said by elderly people or used to mimic old-fashioned speech. Maybe it is still used normally in dialects. ←₰-→ Lingo Bingo Dingo (talk) 08:06, 25 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]