Understanding Danish naming customs is important when researching Danish ancestors. Today most Danish infants get either their father's or mother's surname or a combination of the two. However, that has not always been the case in Denmark.
Before demonstrating the naming traditions with an example from my own family, I must first introduce two Danish words:
Datter = daughter
Søn = son
From around the late 1700s, "søn" was spelled "sen", when used for surnames.
A Typical Danish Family from the 1700s
Michel Andersen and Botilla Nielsdatter married in Ballum Parish in 1766.
Michel's parents' names were Anders Michelsen & Bodel Nielsdatter.
Botilla's parents' names were Niels Laustsen and Kirsten (her last name is undetermined).
Michel and Botilla had 10 children:
- Anders Michelsen, probably named after his father's father. Born in 1767, survived to adulthood.
- Niels Michelsen, probably named after his mother's father. Born in 1769, died in 1772.
- Bodel Michelsdatter, probably named after her father's mother. Born in 1771, died in 1773.
- Kirsten Michelsdatter, probably named after her mother's mother. Born in 1771, survived to adulthood.
- Laust Michelsen, probably named after his great grandfather. Born in 1771, died in 1772.
- Niels Michelsen, probably named after his dead older brother. Born in 1774, died in 1774.
- Bodel Michelsdatter, probably named after her dead older sister. Born in 1775, died 1778.
- Niels Michelsen, probably named after his dead older brother. Born in 1778, survived to adulthood.
- Laust Michelsen, probably named after his dead older brother. Born in 1781, survived to adulthood.
- Bodel Michelsdatter, probably named after her dead older sister. Born in 1787, survived to adulthood.
We cannot say for sure who each child was named after because the sources do not reveal that. However, the assumptions are fair because the pattern correlates with Danish naming customs.
Patronymic Surnames
The last names of all the male children in the family above were Michelsen (meaning the son of Michel) and of all their female children it was Michelsdatter (the daughter of Michel). In the 1800s, the "datter" ending was replaced by the "sen" ending, so that all children's patronymics ended in "sen" regardless of the gender of the child.
Patronymics were the most common kind of surname in Denmark until 1828, when a church order was sent out to limit the use of patronymic surnames. However, the order was vague in its wording, so it had no real impact. Anyhow, in 1856 a law was passed, which "froze" all surnames. In the countryside, the resistance towards the new law was extensive, so patronymics were still used until the late 1800s, but the custom gradually faded away.
In 2006, a new naming law was passed, which allows the use of patronymics again. Anyhow, patronymics will probably never dominate Danish surnames again. Many Danes choose to change their surnames to more unique names.
The most used surname in my family is Hansen, which is the third most common last name among Danes. Yet, the number of Danes having that name fell by 8% from 2003 to 2009. Per the Danish Bureau of Statistics, the new naming law greatly influenced that trend.
Naming After Grandparents
First names were given on the basis of a set of elaborate norms that continued to exist into the beginning of the 1900s, at least in the countryside.
The first male child was normally named after his father's father, the second after his mother's father. The first female child was named after her father's mother and the second after the mother's mother. These naming customs were followed to the letter in the family above. The following children could then be named freely. In this case, it seems that the fifth child was named after his great-grandfather, but it could have been any name the parents liked.
Naming After the Dead
Only five of the children survived to adulthood. When a child died, the next child was typically named after the dead one. The second child, Niels, died in 1772, and his next brother was born in 1774 and was named after him. Often, it was in fact the following child who was named after a dead sibling - and not only the following child of same gender. This resulted in a lot of new names, like Nielsine and Hansine (the female versions of the male given names Niels and Hans).
The custom of naming after the dead sometimes created variances in the sequence of which grandparent the child was named after, because the names of the dead preceded those of the living. If the paternal grandfather was still alive, but the maternal grandfather was deceased, the first born son could be named after his mother's father rather than his father's father. If you see a shift in the sequence, it could be a hint that the person being omitted was still alive when the grandchild was born.
Nicknames as Surnames
The most common first names among males were Jens, Hans, Peter and Niels. Due to the naming customs explained above, some men in a village had exactly the same name. As a result, some other means of distinction was needed.
Thus, nicknames were often given to a lot of men. In some families these nicknames ended up as surnames in later generations - although sometimes in a slightly altered version. For instance, my grandmother's last name was Juhl, which is derived from the word "hjuler" meaning wheeler. I have not found the wheeler, yet, but I am certain that somewhere along the line a wheeler used to exist and gave way to the name Juhl.
A man who moved to a new village could be named after the place he came from. The names Hvistendal and Dræby are examples of that.
Literacy and Spelling of Names
Until the mid 1800s, the majority of the Danish population was illiterate. Therefore, most people did not consider the spelling of names important. Consequently, the writer decided how names were spelled, and thus, the same person's name could be spelled in various ways depending on the source. Here are some examples:
- Kristian = Christian
- Lars = Laus = Laurs = Lauritz = Laurids = Laurits
- Katrine = Kathrine = Catrine = Cathrine
- Ane = Anne = Anna
- Johane = Johanne = Johanna
- Magrete = Magrethe = Margrete = Margrethe
- Malene = Marlene = Magdalene = Magdalena
- Lene = Lena = Helen = Helene = Helena
These names illustrate some of the norms which did after all exist when spelling a name. "K" could be interchanged with "C(h)." Within names, "n" could be either double or single. "r" could be put in after "Ma" and also that "h" could be put in between "t" and "e" and "h" could also be placed between "t" and "r". "e" and "a" at the end of names could be interchanged.
As the general population learned to read and write, a specific spelling was chosen. Each family might not have chosen the same spelling, which is why all of the above spellings are still used today - but it has become a matter of preference how it should be spelled, and furthermore, the pronunciation is often different based on the spelling.
Conclusion
Many possible spellings exist, and you should be aware of them when researching your Danish roots. Remember the variants when you search a database. That might give you the result you have been missing for years.
Finally, you cannot be sure that you and I are related, simply if you have an ancestor named Hansen, because a lot of unrelated Danes were - and still are - named Hansen.
