While the French period saw the introduction of the civil registry and the requirement for a surname, surnames had already arisen much earlier in the Netherlands. Historically it relates quite closely to urbanisation; Brabant and Flanders were the first areas where hereditary surnames became common (13th century), then Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht (15th century), and so on. In the more rural areas of the country, patronymics or other nicknames were still used as identifiers, and by the enactment of the civil registry in 1811 those were 'frozen'. Hence all the northern surnames ending in the patronymic -ma and -stra, and the eastern names ending in -ink to reference the names of their residences.

In the urbanised west, surnames had already become widely accepted. They often have similar origins to those of their rural (albeit in a western dialect), but already by 1811 these had ceased to be updated and had simply become peoples' names. These included patronymics, (Janssen, Willemse), names based on (hereditary) occupations (Meijer, Kok), place of origin (Van Bommel, Van Velsen), adresses (Verdonk, Vermeulen), etc.

There exist a lot of stories about Dutch people taking on weird surnames just to spite the Emperor, with the naive expectation that surnames were just a passing fad, only to become a laughing stock when the French went way but their silly name stayed. This is largely inaccurate, and the example usually given for this (Naaktgeboren, 'naked-born') is just a respelled version of a German surname (Nachgeboren, 'born-after').

However, there is some basis for this myth. Dutch Jews, as a 'nation by themselves', had maintained their old surname-less system of patronymics and surnames despite living in the urban areas (Ashkenazim more so than Sephardim). In the French period, they had swiftly become Dutch (and then French) nationals and were expected to integrate. While some took inspiration from the culturally connected Jews of Frankfurt (of Rothschild fame) and the Levites and Kohanim had easy solutions (Levi and Cohen), others sought inspiration from their non-Jewish neighbours. They went with their cities of origin (Parijs, Berlijn), adresses (Batavier for someone living on the Batavierenstraat), or their occupations. These occupational names were often a bit different from established Dutch surnames, particularly for the Jewish proletariat, with odd names like Komkommer, Appel, Citroen (cucumber, apple, orange) for fruit sellers. Many middle-class Jews, however, went for more normal-sounding names to integrate better, albeit often with a coded reference to their Jewish origin. De Leeuw, for instance, sounds perfectly normal but is a reference to the Lion of Judah.