7/7     eric, is it safe to assume that people with last names like
        "Van De Whatever" and "Van Der Whatever" must have had
        Dutch ancestors?
        \_ How about adoptions?
        \_ How about adoptions?  Or a native taking up the the last name of
           a colonial?
        \_ How about people how change their name to that just because they
           feel like it?
        \_ "van" means "from" in Dutch, so unless that's true for another
           language that's most likely the case.  Note that Dutch or variants
           of Dutch are spoken in multiple countries - eric
           \- where is mario van peebles from?
              \_ He was born in Mexico. I'm going to guess that somewhere
                 down the line he has family from Holland or one of the
                 Dutch colonies like Aruba, Indonesia, or South Africa.