Most common surnames in Denmark 2024

As of January 2024, Nielsen was the most common surname in Denmark. That year, 229,000 people bore the name in the country. That was around 3,000 individuals more compared to the second most popular surname, Jensen. Historically, most surnames in Denmark were created by using the patronymic tradition until hereditary surnames became mandatory in the 1820s. This was also a common tradition in some of the other Nordic countries. For Danish surnames, this meant to have the suffix -sen (son) or -datter (daughter) added to the father’s name.

Female names

The number of women in Denmark amounted to approximately 2.98 million in 2023. Among these, the most common first name was Anne, with around 44,100 women having the name that year. The name originally derived from the name Hannah or Anna. Other popular female names in Denmark were Kirsten, Mette, and Hanne.

Male names

Among the 2.95 million men lived in Denmark as of 2023, and Peter was the most frequent name. As of January 2024, around 46.500 men bore the name, which is also found in the variants Petar, Peder, and Petter. The names Jens, Michael, and Lars were also very common among the Danish men.