Cris zonder H
What is in a name ?

So, why do I have a website called CrisZonderH.nl. 

The short story is,  I needed a unique name for an email address.

And this is unique. As every emailadress is.

Job Done.

The long story

The long story...bear with me. 

The English translation for "CrisZonderH" is "Cris Without an H". Cris is my name. Normally my name would have been written as Chris. With an "H".

In the northern part of Europe this is the normal way to spell it. Like with Chris Martin, Chris Pratt and Chris Evens.

Down south like Spain, Italy, those regions, Cris is spelled without an "H". Like Cristiano Ronaldo.

But up North it's mostly Chris with the "H" So if you would name your kid Chris it would be Chris.

Unfortunately my parents had a different idea. God knows where they got the idea. Maybe because my dad is called Jozef and on first time meeting my dad, my mam decided to introduce herself as Maria.  Sound familiar somehow, Jozef and Maria. God knows, right? 

In the end Jozef really likes Maria and Maria, who actually is called Riekie, really likes Jozef. Those two kids get married and, without divine intervention this time, they get a kid. Two actually. First one is a lovely girl called Susanne with a "S" in stead of Suzanne with a "Z" which is normal in the Northern part of Europe.... Don't get me started..... 

And the second kid is me. Cris. Without the H. 

I asked my dad about it. He just said; Well, It was Chris, Kris or Cris. I went for Cris. Thanks dad. Well, at least is better than my sisters name. That would have been painful,  A boy named Sue, how do you do! 

I have had passports, driving licenses in the incorrect name. You do a course, on the certificate, this will be named incorrectly. On my passport, needed when entering a factory in the USA , or Homeland security as it matters, my full first name will recognised as my religion. My full name is Cristian. There is the link to the divine again.

In the place where I rent my motorcycle, they know me as Cris. Spelled correctly. Of course! They have a copy of my driving license as it is needed for the insurance.  I get mailings from those guys

it will say Cris Last name.

Following mailing was C. Last name. A bit more formal. The mail chimp has entered the room. I do love a bit of automation.

Next mailing was Ch. Last name. Because, we know this guy. He's Cris and Ch. is short for Chris in the Netherlands. Like Th. is short for Theo. Nice gesture. They know me. 

Next mailing one is Chris Last name. Back to full name again. The mail chimp did the spelling checker again and of course it's back again.

The "H", the houdini of letters. 

So, what about the name of this website. As I mentioned I needed a email that was easy to remember. Short of name and ,when possible,  in such a way that my name was spelled correctly. So cris@cris.nl was my preferred choice. Unfortunately there are 4 other people in the Netherlands that also are called Cris. And Cris was a bit faster than me. So Cris won. You can sent him an email to congratulate him. His email address is Cris@Cris.nl.

What to do? Enter Paul Kessels. He was the IT guy in the company where I work. He would always address me as Cris Zonder H. Cause he knows my name and he forwards all the mail from the company Catch-All filter to me. All those that are sent to chris.van.lastname@nl.companyname.com. 

I mentioned to him that I would like a domain name that is easy and that, unfortunately,  www.cris.nl is already taken. Whereby Paul says " You means Cris zonder H punt NL" (Cris without an H dot NL) . And I say "Yes. Cris zonder H is taken". But Paul says it's not. "It's still available, it's not taken". And he shows me. Criszonderh.nl. Paul is all smiles of course. Because Paul is a smartass.

and a good guy. Thanks Paul! 

You want to you can contact Paul at www.kessel.nl. That is the website of the village of  Kessel were Paul lives. His website is named like his family name, Kessels. Paul's family did not move very far since Napoleonic times. Napoleon forced the Dutch to take a last name. 

Before Napoleon, we would get our fathers name as a second name. Like they still name the children in Iceland.

Back than we would have been named like the Vikings

For example, the greatest  "Strongest man of the" ( small pause here, for drama,  like Jeremy Clarkson* would do)  "Wooooorld"   

Jón Páll Sigmarsson.  

John Paul,

son of Sigmar.

That is a name!

Or like the famous Icelandic singer Björk. Her full name is:

Björk Eiðsdóttir,

Björk

daughter of Eiðs.

Sounds heroic and poetic at the same time,

in just one name.

Those were the times.

So in the olden days, my Pre-Napoleonic Dutch Viking name would have been:

Cris Jozefszoon.

Translated :

Cris Jozef's Son.

Or

Cris, the son of Jozef!

What a beautiful name.

There is a beginning of a small tear in my eye.

They would still spell it incorrecty though....

Crap! 

By the way, if you still here and not completely bored out of your mind...

And your name is Harrie... Push on this link, Harry..

* Below are a few more examples of how people of Icelandic/Viking descent got their name