As far as we know now the first person with the name Groeneveld already existed in 1262 in Wassenaar. This is Dirk, who inherited the estate Groeneveld near Delft from his father, Arent van Wassenaar and who is called from that moment on Dirk van Groeneveld. His descendants used the same surname, but the information on this family stops around 1600. The name appears again at the beginning of the 17th century in some places in South-Holland and in the region of Heusden and Altena. Also at other places between the large rivers the name Groeneveld appears several decades later. Whether there is any connection between them or whether there is a connection with descendants of the family from Dirk van Groeneveld is unclear. Later the Groenevelds spread out more over the whole country and even far abroad: United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia. Also in Germany a very large family Groeneveld exists whose origin probably lies in The Netherlands.
At this moment we know of some 40 families Groeneveld (in total some 33,000 persons!), that could not yet be connected to one another. In some families the name has changed over time into Groenevelt or Groenveld. In one case the name was even changed to Groeneweg or Groenenberg. Some families could be traced back until approx. 1500. At that time they do not yet call themselves Groeneveld, but they use patronyms: people call themselves as son of their father, e.g. Govert Joosten (son of Joost) or Berend Reijersen (son of Reijer). It is only many years later that the persons from these families start calling themselves Groeneveld. Also in these cases any connection with other Groenevelds is unclear.
The origin of the name is not known with certainty. Some (like Dirk in the 13th century) called themselves after the estate or the farm that they owned, loaned or where they worked. Others acquired their name during the times of the French Revolution, forced by Napoleon's laws. Why they choose the name Groeneveld at that time, we do not know.