Over the last ten years Danes have rapidly been dropping surnames too common by Danish standards

Typical Danish surnames like Hansen, Jensen and Nielsen are becoming less typical as more and more Danes drop them after marriage.

In 2001, 870,000 Danish people had one of the above surnames. But that figure has since dropped by 10 percent to 785,000 this year.

Following the introduction of new legislation in 2006 making it easier for people to change their names, the trend towards dropping common Danish surnames has increased rapidly, according to Dagbladet Holstebro-Struer newspaper.

The Department of Family Affairs publishes the national list of approved first names and surnames. And agency spokeswoman Mie Møller said many have taken the opportunity to change their names following marriage, taking their spouse’s less common surname.

‘There’s no doubt that it’s typically names that end in ‘-sen’ that are being dropped, like Jensen, Hansen and Petersen. Maybe some people find these names too boring,’ Møller said.

The department has also experienced about 50,000 people taking the option to swap their surname out for their middle name since the legislative change – for example, changing Holm Nielsen to just Holm.

Name researcher Michael Lerche Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen said that people are most likely changing their names not just for practical reasons but to strengthen their identities.

‘There’s an element of snobbery attached to it. It’s rare that less common middle names are dropped, so it can also been seen as an attempt to separate oneself from the masses,’ he said.