Danish surnames are family names found in Denmark as well as the Danish diaspora in North America, the rest of Scandinavia (especially in Norway), Australia, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. They can also be found in the neighboring German state of Schleswig-Holstein, the short-lived Danish colonies of Danish India (1620–1869) and Danish West Indies (1672–1917). Like many Scandinavian surnames, they are mostly of the patronymic form, with toponymic and occupational surnames appearing more recently in the country's history, as well as some surnames of German origin.
History of Danish surnames
Danish surnames did not officially exist until the year 1526, when King Frederik I decreed that all noble families were obligated to have a family name. However, a significant number of these families already had a name based on the symbols on their respective coats of arms. One interesting aspect is that since around the late 1700s, the patronymic ending -søn was spelled -sen when used for last names.[1] The law promulgated by King Frederik I was expanded in 1771 to include residents of the Duchy of Schleswig, located between Denmark and Germany. Slowly, the custom of using fixed surnames spread into the ranks of the clergy, who often adopted Latinized surnames (e.g. Braheus, from Brahe, "bridge-town", or Fabricius ("smith"), as well as the bourgeoisie.
In 1828, in order to make it easier to identify individuals, a law was passed requiring all residents of Denmark to give children fixed surnames.[2] However, the implementation was rather poor, with many people taking their patronymics as their family names, with some even assigning their children a “double patronymic” that created a lot of confusion. For instance, Morten Rasmussen could have named his son Carl Mortensen Rasmussen and Morten Andreassen could have named his son Sigvald Mortensen Andreassen. The Danish government has passed a number of laws since then attempting to motivate people to change to less common surnames, thus allowing for easier identification of individuals.
To reduce the risk of mistaken identity, many Danes started to use their maternal birth or maiden surnames as a heritable middle name, diverting from the rest of the Scandinavian countries by dropping the matronymic -datter,[1] adopting a system more similar to the Russian or Hispanic system. Nowadays, the Danish order of names uses the patronymic -sen at the end without exception, regardless of how the name was acquired (from the father, from the mother or through marriage). However, unlike in Hispanic and Russian surnames, this surname-style middle name is not considered a real last name in official documents, unless it has been hyphenated into a compound name.
The number of patronymics started to decrease in 1904, after the government passed a law that allowed people to adopt a købenavn: a new surname that could be acquired for a small fee,[2] which could be a nickname or farm name from their father or grandfather. In order to prevent people from acquiring names used by the bourgeoisie and nobility, the government prepared a list of certain names protected by law. These could not be purchased unless the person applying obtained a signature from each carrier of the name.[3]
Danish surnames conventions
Upon marriage, Danish women retain their maiden name, but they can also adopt their spouse's surname or a combination of both. The same policy applies to men as well.[4] Nowadays, it is common for Danes to use both parents' surnames, with one functioning as a middle name traditionally — the mother's name. Hyphenated surnames are very uncommon. Individuals with a surname ending in -sen tend to go by their “middle surname”; perhaps the most famous case of this situation in Denmark is the one of the three Prime Ministers named Rasmussen (Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, and Lars Løkke Rasmussen) with each one of them known as Fogh, Nyrup, and Løkke, respectively.
Types of Danish surnames
Danish surnames of patronymic origin
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Despite all the efforts made by the Danish authorities, most common Danish family surnames nowadays are patronymic[5] and end in -sen ("son of") regardless of the gender of the person. Examples of this are Hansen ("son of Hans"), Sørensen ("son of Søren"), Rasmussen ("son of Rasmus") and Poulsen ("son of Poul"). More than two-thirds of the Danes have a patronym ending in -sen in their full name. However, a few of these are uncommon or restricted to a specific area, like Holdensen and Boldsen from the former Duchy of Schleswig, or Heilesen from Northern Jutland. It is important to note that while most common Danish surnames are of patronymic origin, the number of Danes with a patronymic surname has fallen from 62% to 47% during the last 25 years.[6]
Danish surnames of toponymic origin
The first result of this change is the adoption of toponymic surnames. Like in the rest of Scandinavia, location-related surnames can be found all over Denmark today. Many are very similar, if not identical, to surnames with the exact same meaning in Swedish, due the close relationship between the two neighboring countries, which are separated by the Øresund strait linking the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The southern part of Sweden, Scania, belonged to Denmark until 1658. However, while both countries formed part of the Kalmar Union between 1397 and 1523,[7] they have been at war 11 times. Some of these Danish toponymic surnames are:
Danish surnames of German origin
Germany and Denmark share the southern part of the Jutland Peninsula and the border between both countries has changed on a number of occasions throughout history. As a consequence of this, many Danes have adopted hereditary surnames from the German language in the past, sometimes retaining their original spelling, like Schmeichel, Schmidt, Anselm, Hertz and Eilert; and some other adapted their spelling, like Schrøder (Schröder), Skanderup (Schandorf) and Bekker (Bäcker).
Popular Danish surnames
Denmark is the only European country (with the exception of Iceland and Norway) where the top 10 popular surnames are patronymic:[5]
Celebrities with Danish surnames
- Viggo Mortensen, Danish-American actor and director, best known for playing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
- Leslie Nielsen, Canadian comedian with an extensive film career in Hollywood, more notably the franchises Scary Movie and The Naked Gun.
- Brigitte Nielsen, Danish-American actress, best known for playing Ludmilla Drago in Rocky IV and Creed II.
- Jeffrey Bezos (born Jorgensen), CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce company and the third wealthiest person in the world.[8]
- Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author, notable for his fairy tales like "The Little Mermaid", "The Snow Queen," and "The Ugly Duckling".
Explore more about Danish surnames
- Last names on MyHeritage
- Historical records from Denmark on MyHeritage
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Understanding Danish Names
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 History of Surnames In Denmark. Image Restoration Center
- ↑ The history of Danish surnames and patronyms
- ↑ Marriage in Denmark. Embassy of Denmark in Mexico
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Names in the entire population. Statistics Denmark
- ↑ The history of Danish surnames and patronyms
- ↑ Kalmar Union. Encyclopedia Britannica
- ↑ Jeff Bezos. Bloomberg Billionaires Index