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[Opinions] Re: Jean (M)
Happens every day in South Africa: we've even had a (male) Springbok rugby captain named Jean de Villiers. Towards the end of the 17th century, France revoked the Edict of Nantes which has guaranteed Protestants freedom of worship, so many of them chose to leave the country. South Africa at that time was governed by the Dutch East India Company - it was a useful half-way station between Europe and the East - and the Huguenots were, apart from being Protestant like the Netherlands, mostly skilled, hard-working people and welcome settlers. They naturally became assimilated into the Dutch-speaking population, founded the wine industry and continued to use French given names while speaking the Dutch which was even then becoming Afrikaans.Present-day South AFricans pronounce Jean (m) as Zhahn, more or less. Jean-Pierre is also often used, and often shortened to JP.
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