Piter de Vries

[bob_fox]

This name sounds rather Afrikaans to me; but then, of course, Piter would be Pieter. What do you guys think?

I know that during the 80's the government in South Africa was under a lot of foreign pressure because of its policies. Maybe Mr Herbert was poking some fun at the Afrikaners by calling an evil mentat by an Afikaans name. After all, he did call the Baron Vladimir, which sounds Russian (they were communist at the time, remember (you obviously do)). Again, what do you guys think? I'm not moaning here. In fact, I don't care at all. I just think it's interesting.

[Acriku]

Well some major family lines survived the tens of thousands of years, so who knows why he was named that.

[Anathema]

Piter de Vries sounds Dutch.

[Vanguard3000]

The Afrikaaners were Dutch.

[bob_fox]

Yes, De Vries could be Afrikaans OR Dutch. But I just think he was making a jab at the old South African government (sometimes considered "evil"), which was mainly made up of Afrikaners. Again, I don't care about this. I'm not one who easily takes offence.

I've never heard the name Piter before, though. I'm sure he meant Pieter (pronounced a lot like "Peter"); but would an author like Frank Herbert make such a mistake?

[NHJ BV]

If it's spelled Pieter then it's one of the most common names in Holland (especially De Vries).

[lowzeewee]

its dutch hello.R U there.Well.i m not even frm singapore