Origin of the van Eessen surname

The adoption of fixed surnames that were passed on from father to children, in an environment where until then people had been used to a single name system, was a gradual process. In the Low Countries, surnames were first adopted in the Southern Netherlands (which flourished quite a bit sooner than the North, with cities that were thriving from the High Middle Ages onward), especially the County of Flanders, and also in the cities and by the higher classes. Then, with time, the custom moved up north, and also to the rural areas, with the lower classes following suit.

The higher classes and nobility, especially in the County of Flanders, were the early adopters of the fixed surname custom, mostly driven by a desire to distinguish themselves from the common people. In the early times they often had a byname, rather than a hereditary family name: a so called epithet (and in certain cases an epitheton ornans). A byname could be ethnic, locative, occupational, or characteristic, but it was rarely passed on from the father to his children except maybe as a kind of patronymic. This way, in time, a byname could become a hereditary family name. In the County of Flanders, there were already hereditary surnames in the 13th century, and in its cities like Bruges or Ghent most citizens had fixed surnames by the 14th-15th century.

Similarly, also the surname van Eessen first appeared as a locative byname of an ancient noble family. As of the year 1088 a certain Ingerranus d'Hesnes (Ingelram van Esen, also referred to as Ingran of Esen in English works), castellan of Dixmude, appears as a signatory in the Flemish diplomatic sources. According to Dr. Ernest Warlop in his historical study The Flemish Nobility before 1300, Ingran was a member of the ancient noble House of Menen (a term coined by Warlop), a powerful clan in the 11th century County of Flanders. Before 1088 he was probably already sheriff (schout in Dutch, scaltetus in latinised form) of the shire of Esen (Esen-Ambacht), a hereditary office, and the highest administrative and judicial representative of the Count of Flanders in that shire.

When Dixmude was split off from the parish and the shire of Esen to form a separate parish and castellany, the Count of Flanders appointed Ingran as viscount (castellan) of the new castellany of Dixmude. This was common practice in the context of administrative reforms, used as a compensation for the loss suffered as a result of the creation of a new administrative circumscription that was taken from one's district. As a consequence, Ingran was both sheriff of the shire of Esen, as well as viscount of the new castellany of Dixmude.

It is very well possible that, in the course of the 12th century, this ancient noble byname developed into a hereditary surname, most probably along the lineage of the hereditary office of sheriff of the shire of Esen.