The history of Danish surnames and patronyms

For almost 200 years, Denmark has been using heritable surnames, though the phenomenon has only been widely accepted among the population for about 120 years. The thought that a girl would be named Jensen instead of Jensdatter[1], or that children now would be named after a grandparent or great grandparent, or that women were to change their names after marriage, must have seemed crazy for the Danes of the era. Suddenly a patronym[2] no longer had any connection to a child's own father, but instead, over time, would end up referring to a distant ancestor, most likely forgotten. Who was "Jens" to a great-great-grandchild of today?

During the last 25 years, the number of Danes with a patronymic surname has fallen from 62% to 47%.[3] This is due to partly to immigration - and therefore to new surnames arriving from other countries - and partly the newest name laws, which have made it easier to change surnames. To me, it therefore seems to be part of a natural progression caused by both a changed demography and a wish from the Danish population. So why is it that the Danes still seem to be so closely bonded to their old patronyms? These last few years, many articles on the subject have been focusing on a loss of our cultural inheritance. I cannot agree with this point of view. My best guess at this trend is a feeling of nostalgia, with the foundation of ignorance. While many parents are spending countless hours coming up with unique first names for their children, they still tend to hold on to well-known, boring patronyms without a clear knowledge of their origin. Furthermore, the use of patronymic surnames is not a unique Danish phenomenon, but an old tradition in many countries. Just look at these examples:

Sweden:  -son / -dotter

England: -son

Polish and Russian: -i / -a

Spanish: -ez

Arabic: Ibn (in front of father's name)

In addition, just like in Denmark, many of these patronymic surnames have now become permanent and a symbol of naming for that nationality. No Dane would think twice about a surname ending in -sen - it is a given for us - but if they are doing genealogy research and encounter an ancestor named -datter for the first time, they will most likely laugh and associate it with Icelandic culture. That is the last place we Danes really know of where this form is still in use (-dottir), and where permanent, heritable surnames have not yet been adopted. I meet this reaction every single time that I show any Dane parts from a church book or a family tree. This is a clear example of how most Danes have forgotten - or are simply ignorant about - the origin of their own patronyms.

Let me now briefly outline the history of Danish surnames/family names and the purpose for their introduction. As early as the 1500's, the Danish king ordered the noble families to use permanent family names. These often turned out as a description of their coat of arms, for example Gyldenstjerne (golden star), Munk (monk) and Hvid (white). Later on in the early market towns, the finer families with citizenship wanted to join this trend, as well as the clergy in the rest of Denmark.[4] These families simply made use of the same nicknames for multiple generations, and to make it sound fancy, they often Latinized it. For example, a saddle maker used the name Sadolin, a smith used Fabricius, families near the town of Broby used Pontoppidan, people near Kærby used Paludan, and people in Skagen used Scavenius. This sounded much more sophisticated, and to peasants visiting town, it must have sounded almost noble or royal.

In 1767, the government conducted the first Danish census, but the commissioners did not write down the names for the population. By the second census in 1787, the commissioners listed the names, and by the beginning of the 19th century, the Danish population had reached 1 million inhabitants. The government realized a problem. It was simply too hard to distinguish one family from another, when so many had the same first name and no surname. Only the noble families used actual family names, and they were a small minority on the lists. Especially among the peasant class, families only used approximately 10 given names for each sex, and very few looked beyond this selection. The government realized that Denmark needed a name law to separate one family from another. Therefore, in 1828, a new baptism regulation was issued, and in section 18, on the last three lines, it was written: "By the way, every child must at baptism not only be called by a first name, but also with a family- or geographic name, which it must carry for the future." In other words, it was required that every family had to choose a permanent name to be inherited for future generations.

The whole point with this law was to be able to distinguish families from one another, but in many respects, the law backfired. In a population with no tradition for family names and without a substantial knowledge of the population as a whole, the Danes turned out to be less creative in their choices of surnames than the government would have hoped. The vast majority of families simply chose the patronym being used in the current generation. Thus, Jens Hansen's children would no longer be known as Jens' son and Jens' daughter (Jensen and Jensdatter), but simply as Hansen like their father. Daughters suddenly carried a man's name, from their perspective. As previously mentioned, the selection of male names among Danish peasants was small, so the most common patronyms became (and still are): Nielsen, Jensen, Hansen, Pedersen, Christensen, Larsen, Sørensen, Rasmussen and Andersen.

We can at all get a glimpse into Danish demographics in the 19th century by looking at today's most common surnames. The more creative Danes used farm names and geographical names, but once again, a lack of knowledge about Denmark's composition all over was showing. Just look at how many Danes today are called Østergård (eastern farm), Vestergård (western farm), Nørgård (northern farm), Søndergård (southern farm), Lund (grove), Bæk (brook), Kjær (pond), Skov (wood) and Bro (bridge). Not very original, but it should be remembered that the Danes of the time were mostly against the new name law and simply chose a name close to them already, which fitted their village. The most widespread Danish surname today that is not a patronym is Møller (miller), and we do not have to think about that coincidence for too long. Many Danes chose their new surname based on their professions, their looks, or their character and this surname's popularity tells us that Denmark had many millers in the 19th century. Other very used surnames of this kind are Fisker (fisher), Smed (smith), Mørk (dark), Brun (brown) and Høj (tall).

Just as the upper classes Latinized their names in the market towns before the formal naming law, some permanent surnames were Germanized. Examples are Schandorf (people living near Skanderup), Schmidt (smith), Schrøder (tailor) and Fischer (fisher). If they had foreign ancestors, they could easily choose a unique surname therefrom. Patronyms from Sweden are also widespread in Denmark, due to the many farm workers in the late 19th century.

The peasants, especially, considered the naming law rather ridiculous - especially for the daughters - and wondered why the head of household should no longer have the right to call his children by his own first name instead of that of an ancestor? The idea of becoming unique and divided from the village community was not compatible with the worldview of peasants; they would rather fit in. For many decades afterward, this contempt is visible in the sources (church books for most part), showing how heads of households tried their best to get around the law by using two patronymic surnames. According to this practice, Jens Hansen's son Ole would simply get the name Ole Jensen Hansen. The middle name would refer to the father, and the surname would be the name chosen according to the new law. To this day, some families are using double patronyms as a remnant of this rebellion against the law. I also deduce that many local parish priests must have been sympathizers with the old traditions, since they willingly baptized the children this way. The new phenomenon of "middle names" was, until then, only used when a Danish name was divided, for example Anne Marie or Marie Louise, but now the Danes understood that this was a loophole in the law with no restrictions. A middle name could be anything. It could be a nickname, a mother's family name or perhaps the name of a famous person, who symbolized a position in the family. In my family, many branches of whom lived in the Navy's quarters in Copenhagen, the middle name "Napoline" was widely used for girls to express the family's sympathy for Emperor Napoleon in France.

All the way up to the end of the 19th century, we still find women baptized with the ending -datter on the patronyms. Again, this was a rebellion and a statement, not only from the parents but also from the priests. Not all priests shared the same opinion about this name law, so if a person travelled through different parishes in his or her lifetime, the person can be found enrolled with a different surname at baptism, confirmation, marriage, death and more - depending on the priest in that parish. My great grandmother was baptized Johanne Andersine Johansen, but at her marriage, she was enrolled as Hansen. Her father was named Johan Hansen. It seems even crazier when Danes who chose to follow the new rules had children both before and after the law of 1828. Then, Niels Andersen's children from before would be Nielsen and Nielsdatter, while the ones born after 1828 would simply be called Andersen! One family, with three different surnames.

The government tried to elaborate on the law in 1856 with a circular. It was now said that all following generations should carry the chosen name, which stopped the arguments for using -datter for families with perhaps only one child - a daughter. It still took many years for the population to get used to the surnames, but perhaps a large factor in that progress was the growth of urbanization. As many small villagers came to the market towns - and gradually to the big cities - their ideas tended to change. A melting pot of opinions, traditions and points of view may have helped the peasants along the way. By the time of the census in 1901, 75% of the population in Ålborg was using the common patronymic surnames. In some villages around the country, the number was as high as 90 %.

In 1904, the government once again made an effort to distinguish the Danes from each other. For a small fee, a person could buy himself a new surname once in his lifetime. This could be a family name (a nickname or farm name from father or grandfather), or it could be an invented name. A list was compiled for the names protected by law. These could not be chosen, unless the person applying could get a signature from each carrier of the name. Otherwise, it was their pick, and many Danes seized the opportunity. The number of patronyms finally decreased a bit.

In more recent times, the name laws have been modified and liberalized on several occasions. In 1961, a new law allowed women to keep their family name as a middle name after marriage, and everyone could now take a grandparent's family name as a middle name. This also meant that middle names were now controlled and restricted. However, the law eliminated the possibility of acquiring a used surname through permissions from the carriers, since the practice had shown to be corrupted by money transfers. The protected surnames were, from then on, sealed for new members.

In 1982, the new Danish name law stated that both bride and groom as a rule could keep their respective surnames after marriage, unless they clearly stated otherwise. This meant that they were free to choose the bride's surname, or the groom could use it as a middle name. The latter became very popular, but it remained most common for the bride to use the groom's surname. Children of the couple were no longer automatically given the name of the father, but the couple should decide for themselves. Another new addition in this law was that it extended the possibility for taking an ancestor's family name to great grandparents. Furthermore, this name could now be used as a regular surname instead of just a middle name. It was now possible to change one's surname several times instead of only one time in life, but a fee of 3.000 kroner (450 dollars) had to be paid for every name change. A fee was necessary, of course, so that people did not feel like changing their name every month, but the amount resulted in far fewer name changes than the government had hoped. Once again, a law backfired.

The newest name law we have is from 2006. It is so liberal that people can do almost anything they want with their name nowadays. They can apply for a great great grandparent's family name (both surnames and middle names) and use it for a surname. They can delete their surname and use their middle name instead. They can use a widespread surname, as long as over 2.000 Danes (which includes about 190 names on the list today), and use it. To share a surname with their significant other, they no longer have to marry; they can just be living together. They can even reintroduce the family to the old ways with shifting patronyms and use -sen and -datter for each generation; the fee is now about 500 kroner (75 dollars), unless it is by marriage, when it is free. For the latter, it should be noted that today's state resources in name changes are far less than before. It is no longer necessary to send in documentation for the family's use of the name. The name is changed online on borger.dk by a simple formula, and via the Danish online CPR-register (Civil Registration Number), a caseworker can check the family tree with a few clicks for the use of the name.

Many new trends are being seen in our surnames up through the 20th century and especially since the beginning of the new millennium. Many Danes have had a special family name as a middle name and wanted to use it as a regular surname. Perhaps it is a name bought through the law of 1904, and a daughter in the family has held on to it ever since as a middle name. Perhaps it is a nickname or geographic name. Regardless the circumstances, many Danes are moving away from the common patronyms, if they are using the special middle names in their daily life anyway. When two people get married, the unique surname often wins.

In my family, my father was called Jensen, and my mother was called Hansen. Shortly before their wedding, my father chose to change his name to Kanto. This was the maiden name of his half-Finnish grandmother, and it made it possible for both of them to share the name through their marriage and to pass it on to us children. My own grandmother had Bartholdy as a middle name and, at 25, I chose to add it to my list of names, so it is never forgotten or outdated for future generations to recall. I married a Jensen in 2017, and we decided to make him a Kanto, too. My family thereby has a strong tradition for throwing away the patronyms - just as the many name laws intended it. I am currently pregnant with my first child and hoping for my child to keep Kanto as a surname, or at least a middle name. Therefore, I am quite pleased with the many possibilities the new name laws are giving us Danes.

My point with this article is to inform the Danes that fixed patronyms are not a cultural heritage that represents a bygone era, where everything just followed its natural way. Ever since it was discovered how uniformly Danes had chosen their last names, the government has been trying to change this trend. The patronyms, which many Danes have on their passport, were introduced by the state less than 200 years ago, and have been changing constantly ever since. Finally, originality in surnames is gaining ground in the population. Even though one can argue that today we can distinguish individuals by CPR-numbers, there is still a feeling of identity and something unique about not having the same surname as everyone else. We no longer wish to fit in to a rural community through our namesakes. We wish to stand out and show what each of us stands for.

I am well aware that there will always be Danes - outside the big cities in particular - who do not have the same need to stand out and who "are called what they are called," so to speak. For example, my uncle did not adopt the family name Kanto, and all his children was given the old patronym of Jensen, with very common first names. For many Danes, it feels rooted within us that the patronyms are the "correct" surnames, and that other types are too trendy and a bit strange. The patronymic surnames can feel like something especially Danish, because almost all our families at one time carried them. We can embrace everyone and easily withstand a large number of patronymic surnames still. We just do not have to fear that something will be lost as they become less used. Among Danes over the age of 80, about 40% carry a patronymic surname, while this only applies to 20% of newborns.

Whenever I meet someone with the name Jensen, and we talk a bit about my interest in genealogy, I can't help myself asking, "And who was the Jens in your family?" An empty and wondering look meets me every time, because they never bothered to find out. Everyone has a story, and with some insight into our family's surnames, we can feel both the uniqueness and the special bond to the past at the same time. Instead of giving our children first names which they can barely spell, let us celebrate our families and use the special family names we can all find in the family trees. I hope that my children want to question their surnames, so that I can tell them all the stories of the old days. These questions rarely come from children with patronymic surnames, because they encounter those names every day. If we instead reach a point when all surnames are equally rare to find among the Danes, the curiosity of knowing their origin will grow greater. This would be a great gift to all families.

Notes:

[1] During the 19th century, the ending -søn (son) was changed to -sen, due to more correct pronunciation and perhaps a lighter transition for female carriers of the name

[2] Patronym: a family name formed by the father's first name and the ending -sen (son) or -datter (daughter). Before the law 1828, the name changed from one generation to the next - unless the father named the son directly after himself.

[3] https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/danmark/nielsen-jensen-og-hansen-svinder-fra-byerne

[4] Denmark was mostly peasant villages, but since the middle ages, "købstæder" (market towns) were given privileges including exclusive rights to craft and trade within the town. This lasted until the law for "næringsfrihed" (freedom of trade) in 1856.