40+ Danish Last Names You Will Love

 

If you’ve come across any Danish last names before, you might have noticed a pattern. The majority of Danish surnames are patronymics, meaning they are adopted from the fathers name. Therefore, you will notice that almost 90% of the most popular Danish surnames end in -sen.

What does the suffix -sen mean? Sen is added to the end of the fathers name to indicate the child is the “son of”. For example, this means the surname Jensen can be broken down to “Jens” and “sen”, meaning “son of Jens.”

Whilst the vast majority of surnames follow this pattern, other last names also exist. These may be an occupational surname like “Moller” meaning “miller”, or a geographical surname such as “Norgaard” meaning “Northern farm.”

A lot of Danish last names are also commonly used in Norway, as they have Norwegian origin. Norwegian last names, like Danish, are largely patronymic, and mostly end with -sen.

Most Popular Danish Surnames and Meanings

Listed below are a compilation of the most popular and common Danish last names along with their meanings. These surnames are mostly similar to Norwegian last names.

Jensen –  Son of Jens.

Nielsen – A patronymic surname meaning “son of Niels.”

Hansen – Son of Hans (Gift of God)

Pedersen/Peteresen – Son of Peter (Stone or Rock)

Andersen – Son of Anders, derived from Andrew meaning “manly”.

Chritensen/Kristensen – Son of Christen (Variation of Christian)

Larsen/Laursen – Son of Lars (Lars is short for Laurentius, which means “Crowned with laurel”)

Sorensen – Son of Soren, meaning “stern”.

Rasmussen – Son of Rasmus.

Jorgensen – Son of Jorgen. Jorgen is the Danish variation of the English name George.

Madsen  – Son of Mads.

Olsen/Olesen – Son of Ole.

Thomsen – Son of Thomas or Tom (Meaning twin)

Poulsen – Son of Poul/Paul.

Johansen – Son of Johan (Variation of John which means gift of God.)

Moller – Meaning miller, an occupational surname.

Mortensen – Son of Morten.

Knudsen – Son of Knud, meaning “knot.”

Jakobsen/Jacobsen – Son of Jakob/Jacob.

Mikkelsen – Son of Mikkel or Michael.

Frederiksen – Son of Frederik.

Henriksen – Son of Henrik, which is a variation of Henry.

Lund – Grove, or someone who lives by a grove. (Regional or geographic surname).

Holm – Small Island

Scmidt – Of German origin, meaning Smith.

Eriksen – Son of Erik, meaning “eternal ruler.”

Kristiansen – Son of Kristian

Simonsen – Son of Simon, meaning “hearkening/listening”

Clausen – Son of Claus (Short form of Nicholas)

Svendsen – Son of Sven.

Andreasen – Son of Andrea.

Iversen – Son of Iver, meaning “Archer.”

Ostergaard – East of the Farm

Jeppesen – Son of Jeppe, a Danish version of Jacob.

Vestergaard – West of The Farm

Nissen – Son of Nis.

Lauridsen – Son of Laurids.

Kjaer – Carr, Fen (Marshy areas of wetland)

Jespersen – Son of Jesper (Keeper of treasure)

Mogensen – Son of Mogens.

Norgaard – North of the Farm.

Jepsen – Son of Jep.

Frandsen – Son of Frands, a variation of Frans/Franz meaning “Frenchman.”

Sondergaard – South of the Farm.

 

 

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