Afrikaner / French Huguenot
An Afrikaner surname of French Huguenot origin, carried by one of the families that settled at the Cape Colony from 1688 and became part of the Afrikaner nation..
| Surname | Du Preez |
| Origin | Afrikaner / French Huguenot |
| Meaning | From the French place-name or toponym Du Pré or Des Prés — of the meadow or meadow land; a Huguenot family name |
| Common regions | Western Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Northern Cape |
Du Preez is one of the great Huguenot surnames of South Africa — a name derived from the French du pré (of the meadow) or des prés (of the meadows), a topographic surname indicating a family who lived near or on meadow land. The French Huguenot refugees who arrived at the Cape Colony from 1688 brought with them a cluster of surnames now firmly associated with the Afrikaner nation: Du Toit, Du Plessis, Du Preez, De Villiers, Jordaan, Rousseau.
The Du Preez family settled in the Cape Colony in the late seventeenth century, and within two generations had largely assimilated into the Dutch-speaking Cape Burgher community. The French language was lost by the third generation, but the surname persisted as a hereditary identifier carrying the trace of Huguenot origin into the present day.
As the Cape Colony's population expanded through the eighteenth century, Du Preez families were among the trekboere who moved beyond the settled districts into the frontier regions — the Karoo, the eastern Cape, eventually the highveld. The surname appears in the records of the Cape Colony census, the baptism registers of the Dutch Reformed Church, and later in the records of the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
Max du Preez — a South African journalist, author, and newspaper editor — is perhaps the most internationally known contemporary bearer of the name. He founded the Vrye Weekblad (Free Weekly), the first Afrikaans-language newspaper to publish anti-apartheid journalism during the height of the apartheid era, and has written extensively on Afrikaner history and identity.
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Love South Africa — Free →Du Preez genealogy begins with the Huguenot settlers of 1688–1700. The Huguenot Memorial Museum in Franschhoek is the primary resource. The Cape Archives Repository holds VOC-era records including opgaafrollen (census returns), baptism records, and estate inventories. GISA holds Du Preez family files covering multiple generations.