In the case of Romance stems, it is sometimes unclear whether the –ier–formations have been formed in Dutch or were borrowed as a whole (e.g. fuselier fusilier, grenadier id, passagier passenger, poelier poulterer).

vliegenier pilot is exceptional in that it is derived from a verb (vliegen to fly).

De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 180) point out that there is one geographical person name in -ier, viz. Arabier Arab (< Arabië Arabia). Interestingly enough, someone from Saoedi-Arabië Saoudi Arabia is not called a *Saoedi-Arabier but rather Saoedi-Arabiër, with the suffix -er.

De Haas and Trommelen (1993: 181) also point at formations such as kwartier quarter (e.g. of an hour) (< kwart quart) and formulier form. If these are to be analyzed as being formed with a suffix -ier, this may very well be a different one: not only is the output subcategory different (denoting things rather than person names), gender is not common but neuter (selecting the definite article het) and plural form is uniformly in -en.

Note that there is a homograph suffix with a different pronunciation -ier /je:/ that is found in professional names such as herbergier inn-keeper and avonturier adventurer.

The existence of a form in –ier usually blocks other nominalizations, with the exception of tuinder market gardener, which has a slightly different semantics than regular tuinier gardener.

Middelbare scholier secondary school pupil is formed on the basis of the phrase middelbare school secondary school. Note that we are dealing with a bracketing paradox here: semantically, this is derived from the pertinent phrase, but structurally, scholier pupil is the head, as is shown by the neuter agreement in middelbaar scholiertje young/small secondary school pupil, due to the diminutive suffix.