Why does a Dutch World Cup star share his name with a Scottish town?

For the past decade or so, there has been an international football star whose name provokes a smile of recognition among residents of a south of Scotland town.

Denzel Dumfries has played in World Cups with the Dutch national team and the Champions League final with Milanese giants Inter.

The story of his first name - in honour of the actor Denzel Washington - is fairly widely known.

His surname, however, has a more complicated history which has much more to do with the Caribbean than the town known as the Queen of the South.

Suzette Dumfries is a cousin of Denzel's father Boris, and has a long-standing fascination with the family name and its history.

She works in Dubai as what she describes as a "nation builder" - helping countries "function at their highest potential" - but is originally from the island of Aruba.

With a population of about 100,000, it is also home to a large number of people with her Scottish-sounding surname.

"To understand the name Dumfries, and to understand what Denzel carries when he steps on to the world stage, one has to understand the family history behind the name," she said.

"I do not look at the Dumfries name only as a family name, I look at it as an archive.

"A name that carries slavery, freedom, migration, education, football, and the Caribbean's place in the wider world."

The story starts in Suriname on the South American mainlaind which, Suzette explained, although considered a Dutch colony, was shaped by many nations - including Scottish slave-owners.

"Dumfries is, of course, a town in Scotland but in our family line, we know the name did not enter Suriname first as a Scottish surname," she said.

"There was an enslaved man whose first name was Dumfries.

"At emancipation in 1863, when formerly enslaved people were formally registered with family names, his first name appears to have become the surname of the family line."

Suzette said the family had something of a tradition of founding organisations which Denzel has followed with his own specialist youth care and development centre in his native Rotterdam.

"Denzel's great-grandfather, Johannes Paulus Dumfries, born in 1874, was the first male born free in our lineage, which begins in Suriname," she said.

He would go on to co-found a credit bank for farmers.

It was Denzel's grandfather - George Remus Dumfries - who moved from Suriname to Aruba in the 1940s, where he would later co-establish the Mon Plaisir School.

He settled in the capital, Oranjestad, and - like many migrants - his family followed and grew.

His brother, Heinreich Waldemir Dumfries, moved too and they had no fewer than 26 children between them.

More generations have come along since then as well as others moving to the island.

"Today, the name Dumfries is not uncommon in Aruba," said Suzette.

"In fact, Aruba may well have the highest concentration of people with this specific surname anywhere in the world."

The family is aware of the town of Dumfries, with Denzel's uncle Morris having honeymooned there.

"I would personally also like to visit," added Suzette.

"I am a bit of a genealogist in my family and have done a lot of research on every dimension of our history.

"And I am keen to learn more about the town of Dumfries itself and also what the historical link is between the city and Suriname itself."

There's a big difference between Aruba and southern Scotland in many ways but she said there was, nonetheless, "something poetic" about their connection.

"One Dumfries is a Scottish town, another Dumfries became a Caribbean family name," she said.

"And now, through Denzel, the name travels again, across Aruba, the Netherlands, Europe, football, identity, and history."

Although he was born in the Netherlands, she said Arubans were "very proud of Denzel" who has recently been linked with a move to Real Madrid but suffered elimination from this World Cup at the hands of Morocco.

"Denzel is not just a footballer with a famous surname," said Suzette.

"For many Arubans, he represents possibility.

"He shows that a name connected to a small Caribbean island can stand on the biggest stages in the world: the Dutch national team, the World Cup, the European Championship, Champions League nights, and Inter Milan."

For the family that is "even more meaningful" and about much more than just football.

"Denzel makes visible a larger Caribbean truth: small islands are not small in destiny," she said.

"A name can travel from Scotland to Suriname, from Suriname to Aruba, from Aruba to the Netherlands, and from there onto the world stage.

"Denzel carries that story every time his name appears on the back of his shirt."