San Nicolaas was named after a Mr. Nicolas van der Biest (1808-1873),
who owned a big piece of the land there. Landowners were then addressed by
their subordinates by their first names preceded by 'Shon' meaning 'master'. So
he was called 'Shon Nicolas', as was the area. It is thought that the change
from Shon Nicolas to San Nicolaas was due to the influence of Spanish. (Source
is Dr. J Hartog, Aruba's historian and Aruba Tourism Authority.)
