Jonkheer

Jonkheer (female equivalent: Jonkvrouw) is a Dutch honorific of nobility. In Belgium, the title of Écuyer (in French) or Jonkheer/Jonkvrouw (in Dutch) is the lowest title within the nobility system, recognised by the Court of Cassation. It is the cognate and equivalent of the German noble honorific Junker, which was historically used throughout the German-speaking part of Europe, and to some extent also within Scandinavia.

Honorific of nobility

Jonkheer or Jonkvrouw is literally translated as "young lord" or "young lady". In medieval times such a person was a young and unmarried son or daughter of a high ranking knight or nobleman. Many noble families could not support all their sons to become a knight because of the expensive equipment. So the eldest son of a knight was a young lord while his brothers remained as esquires.

However, in the Low Countries (and other parts of continental Europe), only the head of most noble families did and does carry a title, with inheritance via male lineage. This resulted therefore that most of the nobility was, and is nowadays, untitled in the Netherlands. 'Jonkheer', or its female equivalent 'jonkvrouw' developed therefore quite early into a different but general meaning, i.e., an honorific to show that someone does belong to the nobility, but does not possess a title. The abbreviation jhr., or jkvr. for women, is placed in front of the name (preceding academic, but not state titles).