Danish Descent TracingUnfortunately many of the Denmark sites are in Danish, although some do offer limited English translations.
If you are using the Danish letter Å or å, try the query with the letters AA or aa instead if you don't get any results.
Possible Name Changes
Prior to 1900, handwriting was Gothic Script. Prior to 1850, the Danish had no permanent family name. The sons were given their father's Christian name, with "sen" added for their surnames. The daughters had been given their father's Christian name with "datter" added for their surname.
Source material may not be available going back 200-275 years, as it is said that most Danish were descendants of a family of peasants. Permanent family names were acquired in the first half of the 18th century. This was done by either adopting the name of the craft the family pursued, or by adopting the name of the village where the family originated but no longer live. If the name goes further back, noble families or families of civil servants may be traced.
Listed below are suggestions for tracing some Danish heritage.
- Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Udenrigsministeriet
- Ålborg - Danish Emigration Archives
(records, books, letters, photos of Danes who emigrated to the New World)
- Information about Denmark - Royal Danish Embassy
- Danish National Archive - Rigsarkivet
- Census Lists - Danmark's Demografiske Database
Date from 1787,1801,1834,1840. From 1845 on - census lists state the place of birth for every individual. Census was taken every 5 - 10 years after that. Lists available to the public date from 1916.
- Archives - Denmark's Provincial Archives
- The Danish Federation - Canada
- Lists of Conscripts
Records contain information on peasant sons liable for military service, date back to 1788. The absolition of adscription that year made manorial landlords responsible for the conscription of servicemen. Originally just peasant sons were liable for military service and were put on conscript lists at birth. In 1849, the list was extended to all male children, but from then on they were not listed as conscripts until the age of fifteen. In 1869, conscripts were listed at the age of seventeen. They remained on the lists until their 38th birthday, and were given the name of their father. The lists made from those who moved away or moved into a recruiting area. Migrations of those liable for military service can be traced.
- Archives of Zealand
Record have material from Zealand, including Copenhagen and the islands of Lolland, Falster, Mon, and Bornholm.
- Funen
Funen and it's adjacent islands include ÆRO.
- Northern Jutland
Includes all of Jutland down to the German border after the 1864 war. (The River Kongeaa border)
- Southern Jutland
The parts of the Duchy of Schleswig (Southern Jutland), that were restored to Denmark in1920 have had their Provincial Archives in Aabenraa. It also has the records of Prussian local administration of that region for the 1864 - 1920 period. Holds material from the entire Duchy of Holstein and from those parts of the Duchy of Schleswig that remained in Germany in 1920, housed in German record offices, The Landesarchiv Schleswig - Holstein, Schloss Gottorf, D-2380 Schleswig.
- Provincial Archives in Aabenraa - (Southern Jutland)
A larger part of older records are in German. There are duplicate records as early as 1763. In 1874, the introduction of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths by Prussian administration in Schleswig. Political pressure stemming from the Prussian administration caused large groups of people to emigrate from Schleswig.
- The Prussian Melderegister - (Report Lists)
These roughly correspond to the Danish list of conscripts.
- Passenger Ship Lists
There are many to research.
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