Re: [PAF] Danish Surnames

[Dave Hinz <dhinz@execpc.com>]

"Thomas D. Sevy" wrote:
> 

> 
> To someone with Danish expertise.  Patronymics in Denmark adds "sen"
> to the end of the father's given name.  So, Peter, the son of Lars
> Svendsen, has the name Peter Larsen.  In some cases that I have seen,
> Anne, the daughter of Lars Svendsen, has the name  Anne Larsen, and in
> other cases the name Anne Larsdatter or Larsdotter.
> 

(snip)

Tom,

My experience is much stronger with Norwegian naming practices, so I'll
defer on the "datter" vs "dotter" spelling, however, I have a few ideas
for you.

First, the various Scandinavian countries passed laws in the 1800's
requiring
the patronymic naming systems to be ended, and family names to be
chosen.
If you have girls with "sen", and they are after about 1860 in Denmark,
this may be because by that time, in your example, Larsen has been
chosen
as the family name and is no longer patronymic.

As to how to enter the place names into PAF, I do it this way:

Anna	(first name)
Larsen	(surname) - which it really isn't but is the best answer
Daase	(suffix) - in Norway, this is the place name.  Of course, this can
	change throughout a person's life, so I have one person, as an 
	example, Joen Pedersen Nyhus/Holo.  He's Joen, son of Peder, 
	lived first in Nyhus and then Holo (actually Holo Søndre, but 
	he listed his name as Holo).

I haven't worked out a good way to sort by suffix, which would be
nice, but perhaps somewhere in custom reports?

As to the other questions, on my homepage I have a link to several pages
which might be of use.  My Denmark links are very limited as I have not
started researching that branch yet, but the Norwegian links, especially
John Follesdal's site, will probably be of great interest to you, with
the two countries being so linked culturally and politically.  Have a
look,
and of course, suggestions are welcome.

Dave Hinz
http://www.execpc.com/~dhinz/genealogy.html
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