Searching for genealogical data of Dutch East-Indies ancestors is far more complicated than researching a Dutch family. This is mainly caused by the fact that the basic sources for genealogical research, such as the Civil Registry, church records and burial registers, are not located in The Netherlands but in present-day Indonesia.

Janssen's Indisch Repertorium  is a general index of family names (also called 'surnames' or 'second names') to be found in printed genealogical or related publications concerning the Dutch East- and West-Indies, that have appeared over the past 70 years. Only genealogical information that has appeared in print is included in the Repertorium; genealogical information on the internet is not included as its status is not fixed because of continuous corrections and additions. Moreover, on websites no reference can be made to pagenumbers. The Repertorium does not pretend to be complete, but almost all pre-war standard works in this field have been included as well as present-day publications. The Repertorium, however, just like the IGV, mainly focusses on the Dutch East-Indies. At present  'Janssen's Indisch Repertorium'  contains a good  278,000  references to more than  65,000  family names that, either via their ancestors, or via their offspring, are linked to the Dutch East- or West-Indies. But persons carrying the same family name do, of course, not necessarily belong to the same family!


Some comments on the alphabetical order of family names:

1.  Family names with separate prefixes such as ‘de’ or 'van’ (and their derivative forms such as 'van de’, ‘van der’ or ‘van den’), as well as foreign equivalents such as ‘von’, ‘le’ or ‘du’, are placed behind the main name. Consequently:
      De Jong                  =  Jong, de
      Van den Berg         =  Berg, van den
      Von Franquemont  =  Franquemont, von
      Du Cloux                 =  Cloux, du
      L’Abee                    =  Abee, l’

2.  Some prefixes, however, are considered inextricably bound up with the main name. Belonging to that group are prefixes such as ‘aan’, in’, ‘op’ or ‘uit’ (but also the German ‘zu’), usually followed by an article or one of its inflectional forms. Those prefixes remain in front of the main name.
Some examples are:
      Aan de Kerk          =  Aan de Kerk
      In ‘t Veld                 =  In ‘t Veld
      Op den Akker        =  Op den Akker
      Uit den Bogaard   =  Uit den Bogaard
      Zur Buchen            =  Zur Buchen

3.  A complicated problem are 'double family names'. They are alphabetically indexed according to the original surname of the family (as far as such is known). Serving as a standard were the books:  'Dubbele Geslachtsnamen'   [Double surnames]  by F. de Josselin de Jong  (The Hague 1949) and  'Het Dubbele Namen Boek'   [The book of Double Surnames]  by C.F.G. ten Houte de Lange en A.D. de Jonge   (Amsterdam 2007).
The double family names listed below, should therefore formally be indexed as:
      De Chauvigny de Blot            =  Chauvigny de Blot, de
      Van Hecking Colenbrander  =  Colenbrander, van Hecking
      Denninghoff Stelling               =  Stelling, Denninghoff
      Overbeek Bloem                    =  Bloem, Overbeek
      Hélant Muller                           =  Hélant Muller

However, in order to maintain a maximum user-friendliness in the index, the latter two groups of family names have been cross-indexed, whereby the non-correct form points to the correct form.
So you will find:
      Akker, op den                =  zie  Op den Akker
      Bogaard, uit den           =  zie  Uit den Bogaard
      Blot, de Chauvigny de  =  zie  Chauvigny de Blot, de
      Overbeek Bloem           =  zie  Bloem, Overbeek
      Muller, Hélant                 =  zie  Hélant Muller

The Dutch ‘ij’ is, alphabetically seen, treated as the ‘y’. The ‘y’, however, precedes the ‘ij’.

The IGV does not provide you with the information related to the references listed in the Repertorium. No exceptions are made! You have to go to a library yourself in order to see what information about a given family name is mentioned on the page(s) of a certain publication listed in the Repertorium. The sources that have been used for compiling the Repertorium are generally available in the bigger libraries in the Netherlands. Non-commercial genealogical publications are available in the library of the ‘Centraal Bureau voor Genealogie’ in The Hague.
The IGV realises that this may be a problem for researchers abroad. We suggest they contact family members or friends in The Netherlands, or buy the IGV's DVD 'Bronnen voor Indisch genealogisch onderzoek'  [Sources for Dutch-Indies genealogical research]  which contains some of the most used sources for such research. For information on the DVD see our section 'Publicaties', clickable in the main menu.