"Wilhelmus van Nassouwe", known simply as "Wilhelmus", is the national anthem of both the Netherlands and its sovereign state, the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It dates back to at least 1572, making it the oldest national anthem in use today, provided that the latter is defined as consisting of both a melody and lyrics. Although "Wilhelmus" was not recognized as the official national anthem until 1932, it has always been popular with parts of the Dutch population and resurfaced on several occasions in the course of Dutch history before gaining its present status. It was also the anthem of the Netherlands Antilles from 1954 to 1964. The name is derived from its first word, which is the Latinization of his name Willem which is how he present himself, that being Wilhelmus, itself gained from adding the Latin -us suffix to the Germanic name Wilhelm, when counting the entire first line which is also how the song is referred to, Wilhelmus van Nassouwe, "Nassouwe" is one of the many spelling variations of the name Nassau during that time.