Danish Surnames or Family names

The name practice of given surnames as "Peter's son" , "Peterson"  or "Petersen" is  called "Patronymic”. Peters daughter was named "Peters daughter" or "Petersdatter". I think patronymic is a Latin word meaning something like fathers name. It was the common way of giving names for hundreds of years in Denmark

King Frederik I gave a law in 1526, it stated that all noble men should have a family name instead of the "Patronymic". The practice with family names spread to the upper class, vicars, merchants and civil servants. An example of that in our family: Vicar in the parish of Taulov, Bertel Iversen had several children, but they used different surnames. Two of them studied at the university and they called themselves Jens Bertelsen Taulov and Jørgen Bertelsen Taulov after their birth town, two other were Dorthe Bertelsdatter and Poul Bertelsen, they only used the "Patronymic".

In 1828 a new circular was sent out by the government, saying that all people should choose and use family names instead of "Patronymic". It took many years, until people all over the country accepted it. Some people kept the last used "Patronymic", for instance Hansen, and used it as family name. Others took the name after an occupation for instance Miller, others again took a name after where they came from. My wife Lene’s family name Astrup is from a big farm, where one of her ancestors worked about 1650.

Let us use my great great grandfather Rasmus Hansen (1825-1895) as an example: "Hansen", comes from his father Hans Andersen (1790-1840), who was married to Maren Lisbeth Rasmusdatter (Rasmus daughter). They gave their children names after the old practice, their first son was called Anders (Father's father's name) Hansen (Father's name) the next son was called Rasmus (Mother's father's name) Hansen (Father's name).

The first son was normally named after the father's father and the second after the mother's father. The first daughter was normally named after the father's mother and the second after the mother's mother. This standard procedure was followed, unless a family member had died recently; if so the child was named after the late person.

When Rasmus Hansen got children the new circular from 1828 said that his children should have a family name, but he did not follow it in the beginning. The two first children he had with his first wife Ane Larsdatter (Lars' daughter) was called Rasmussen. When he married Martinette he followed the new practice and gave the children the new family name Hansen. When they got their first child, my great grandmother  Ane Elisabeth they used both practices and named her Ane Elisabeth Rasmussen Hansen. The name Ane was possibly from Rasmus' first wife who died, and Elisabeth from Rasmus' mother Lisbeth. This is from her wedding in Nakskov with my great grandfather Niels Peder Christiansen who was the first to have my family name Christiansen.

Niels Peder’s parents were also confused about the "new" rules for names. They had eight children between 1849 and 1866, and they named them in four different ways. The first born son was named Hans Olsen Christiansen because his grandfather was Hans Olsen and his father's name was Christian. The next was also named Olsen Christiansen, but as number three came my great grandfather Niels Peder Christiansen. After that, they got two children with the name Hansen, and then as number six they got Christen Poulsen Hansen. I do not know where they found "Poulsen". The two last children were named Hansen. After that, it is seen that it was only by a pure chance, that my name is Christiansen and not Hansen.

I hope this gave a little information about the Danish names.

Joern Christiansen