Holland vs The Netherlands – What Is the Country Called?

When I first arrived in The Netherlands I knew very little about the country. I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know the traditions and after a few months I discovered I didn’t even know the name. For a long time I thought this country was called Holland (and yes, I named this blog before I found out). But it’s not called Holland. It’s called The Netherlands. If you look on a world map that is the name you will see. So why is it sometimes called Holland? Well… that’s both simple and not so simple.

Holland vs The Netherlands and The Twelve Provinces

The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces. Holland is the name given to the combination of the two western most provinces, separately known as Zuid-Holland and Noord-Holland (South and North Holland).

The other provinces are called Zeeland, North Brabant, Limburg, Utrecht, Gelderland, Flevoland, Overijssel, Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen… in case you were wondering.

But why Holland?

Despite this, for reasons that are not entirely clear, the country sometimes gets called Holland as a whole. It’s possible that it has something to do with three of the country’s main cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Den Haag) being within the two provinces in question. It does not help that non-Dutch people are probably easily confused on matters of Dutch geography.

The good thing is the Dutch themselves are very clear on the name of their country. Just ask them. It is The Netherlands without a shadow of a doubt. They’ll have none of this Holland nonsense thank you very much… Unless…

Hup Holland Hup

The rules about the countries name go completely out the window during any kind of international sporting event. It does not matter if it is the World Cup, the European Cup, the Olympics or even a cake baking competition. The same Dutch person that was just sternly telling you the name of their country is The Netherlands will suddenly be shouting “Hup Holland. Hup” with the rest of the country (all twelve provinces). It loosely translates to “Come on Holland. Come on.”

I guess it shorter and easier to shout than the alternative. As a Dutch person recently said to me; try shouting “The Netherlands, The Netherlands” at the next international sporting event you go to. It just doesn’t work. It would be even worse if you tried to use the official country name as it appears in Dutch passports; “Hup, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, Hup.”

Another possible explanation I received was, “Minder lettergrepen. We zijn zuinige mensen.” This basically translates to, “Less syllables. We are economical people.”

In the end it is probably a combination of the name Holland being more marketable than The Netherlands, easier to fit on a t-shirt and less likely to get mixed up with Neverland.

If you don’t believe me on that last one; during my first few weeks in the country I received a letter from an old college friend. It was addressed to me in The Neverlands. Amazingly it still arrived. It make me question where I was actually living for a short while.

What do you think of Holland vs The Netherlands? What name do you prefer to use?