Which is correct? “Holland” or “The Netherlands”? And why are its people Dutch?

To answer the first question, neither. The country is properly called “The Kingdom of the Netherlands.” In much the same the way “The United States of America” is commonly shortened to “America,” “The Kingdom of the Netherlands” is commonly shortened to “the Netherlands.” 

So what in the wooden-shoe hell is up with “Holland”? 

The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces. “Holland” refers to just two of them—North Holland and South Holland, which between them contain the Netherlands’ three largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Amsterdam being the seat of government and a decades-long haven for legally tolerated weed-smoking and prostitution, Rotterdam being Europe’s largest port and the general location of its famous dikes system, and The Hague being the last stop for war criminals including Slobodan Milošević, Radovan Karadžić and Charles Taylor, it’s no wonder that these are the Netherlands’ two best-known provinces. 

Because of their overwhelming prominence, foreigners in the 17^th century began calling the whole country “Holland.” Much to the annoyance of the other ten provinces, it stuck—so much so that the government ran a campaign in 2020 to phase out “Holland” in its international branding. The effort failed. 

And what in the tulip-growing hell is up with “Dutch”?  

Firstly, the Dutch don’t refer to themselves as such. It is strictly an English language artifact that managed to stick. Natives call themselves “Nederlanders.” 

“Dutch” comes from the same root as “Deutsch,” which traces back to the Old High German word “diutisc,” meaning “of the people.” In the early Middle Ages, this distinguished everyday Germanic languages from Latin, which was used primarily by scholars and the Church. 

Before the 1600s, “Dutch” could refer to people from what is now Germany as well as what is now the Netherlands and Belgium. “High Dutch” meant German speakers in the mountains and “Low Dutch” meant those in the flatlands, including the Netherlands. As England’s contact with seafaring traders from the Low Countries increased, “Dutch” came to refer specifically to people of the Netherlands while “German” became the standard word for people from Germany.

With many people’s Netherlands familiarity beginning and ending at the Sherwin-Williams paint can, I hope this has cleared up a few things.