Menno Simons (1496 – 31 January 1561) was an Anabaptist religious leader from the Friesland region of the Low Countries. Simons was a contemporary of the Protestant Reformers and his followers became known as Mennonites. "Menno Simons" is the Dutch version of his name; the Frisian version is Minne Simens , the possessive "s" creating a patronym meaning "Minne, son of Simen" (cf. English family names like Williams and Rogers).