"steff snyder" <rowan_98@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:20041211212027.37508.qmail@web51410.mail.yahoo.com... > Question to Danish Friends, Was it still customary to give a son the > father's first name plus sen during the 1850-80's, in Denmark? Patronymics were forbidden by law but the law was ignored in the villages Danish personal names and naming FAQ http://www.rootsweb.com/~dnkcen/FAQ/names.html Navnelovene af 1828, 1856 og 1904 The 1904 law introduced the possibility of of "purchasing" a new self invented surname. This would be a reserved surname - forbeholdte navne and see RETSINFORMATION below for a current list. Today's price is 3000 kroner DKK about USD $500 1000 Danish surnames http://www.rootsweb.com/~dnkcen/FAQ/1000surnames.html The top one thousand surnames in Denmark on January 1 2004 - with thanks to Dorthe Larsen at Danmarks Statistik http://www.dst.dk/ BTW Norweegian names has moved to http://www.norwayheritage.com/articles/templates/genealogy.asp?articleid=2&zoneid=2 enjoy Hugh W