Utrecht looks at paying for descendants of enslaved people to change names

Growing debate in Netherlands about colonial past despite government refusal to apologise

The city of Utrecht could pay for descendants of enslaved people to change their names, a sign of the growing debate in the Netherlands about its colonial past.

Many enslaved people were given the names of their owners, plantations or muddled Dutch names, such as Vriesde (based on De Vries) or Kenswil (Wilkens).