Patronymics-Danish naming practices before 1900
I notice a lot of surprise on the board at the profusion of names such as Hansen in places like Norway and Denmark. I did a search and did not find a post covering this subject, so I will put one up that may help persons new to the search for their Scandinavian lines. Surnames in Scandinavia were not embraced by the general population whole heartedly until about 1900, even though legislation was in place in most Scandinavian countries by 1860 to require families to 'choose and register' a 'family name' for purposes of the census and legal transactions. Many families who did register a family name, did not use it as we would a surname. They might write their name as 'Mette Hansan family Stald' meaning her name was Mette Hansen, but her family had registered the surname Stald. The registered surname was being passed on to the generations by the 1870s, but it was not until the late 1890s that even this became a regular practice. There remained large communities that simply did not note the 'family name' in the parish records. The original naming practices of Scandinavia are known os 'Patronymics' and are not actually surnames. They are simply the name of the person's father, or if that person's father is unknown, then the name of the person's mother. A person whose patronymic was Hansen, was a person whose father's name was Hans. Hansen means 'son of Hans'. If the child were a girl, she was Hansdatter which means daughter of Hans. The names Hansen, Jensen, Madsen, Olesen, Jacobsen and on and on are all just names that tell you the name of the person's father. In some cases they will be Hansdatter, Jensdatter, etc if the father were unknown. To complicate matters still further, some persons carried both the name of their father and grandfather. This was done to distinguish the person from others of the same name in the community. Hans might be son of Jens. Hans has a son Ole but there is another Ole Hansen in the community, so the new one becomes Ole son of Hans son of Jens or 'Ole Hansen Jensen'. In other cases, if a child were illegitimate, the child might drop his or her mothers name and take one of the male ancstral names such as Grandad's, so, Gretta has an accidental delivery and father runs off so her daughter, Olina, might be called after Gretta's grandfather Peder, Olina Pedersdatter. These are several of the ways patronymics were used. If there were three or 4 persons of the same name in the community, they would ad the grandfather and if that were not enough to distinguish them in the record, the sacristan might also ad the person's trade. Now, mid 1800s when Scandinavian countries started legislating to create European style surnames in Scandinavia, everyone with a father named Hans might decide to become Hansen and suddenly 70% of the population have the same surname! Worse, a large percentage of the people simply took their names from the geography, such as Voll/Wold. Everyone living in that district would take the same surname! Suddenly, every one in town had the same last name! The people were slow to accept European surnames. Their old practices gave them a better personal identity as it told you who the person really was...his parents, his trade, his location. But, eventually, they did. As their relatives emigrated to other countries, they took with them the surnames they had registered in Scandinavia, in most cases of emigration after 1890. But, for those who came before 1890, watch out! Brothers would come to America and each one take a different surname and move to a different part of the country! Reconnecting them is an extreme challenge! With Scandinavian ancestry, it is very important to work carefully backward. Nothing can be assumed or learned by surnames, really, as they don't represent family links until after 1890. If you are looking for ancestors before that date, you need to find original records and scrutinize family records. And, remember, that most families kep the patronymic as a middle name for their male children well into the 1920s. Which is why, in many cases, a family of multiple boys will have the same 'middle name'...it wasn't a middle name for them, it was a record of their paternity. Scandinavians are also notorious for giving siblings the same names over and over. You might have 3 Ole Peder Jensens in one group of siblings! They might call one Ole, one Peter, and one Peder...but it doesn't help them to stand out as seperate entities in the written record! In one family of ours , they had three girls all called 'Carrie'.....sighhhhh. If you know your ancestor's name on entry to the U.S. and where they settled first, you should probably go to the Danish Emigration Archive online, type in the surname (no first name because of spelling variations that might cause you to miss your ancestor) and the destination. Read all the hits carefully. If you find your ancestor, and chances are good you will if they left Denmark after 1840, the record will tell you where they originated and you can hire someone to find their parish records for you. This is just general information. Hope someone can use it.