Why do some last names have (___) ?

[PrivateUser]

Hello,

When researching my Danish ancestors, I noticed several men had two or three last names and one of those names was in parentheses. Why?

Examples:
Rasmus Pedersen (Hvid)
Niels Hansen Rasmussen (Thage)

In several church records, the parentheses would be dropped and it would be "Rasmus Pedersen Hvid".

What does the ( ) mean?

Thank you.

[Svend Aage Mikkelsen]

Hello

In those days only few names were used and to distinguish between people with the same name, they used an extra name, fx "Gammel" (old), "Ung" (young) in front or as in your example "Hvid" (white). Rasmus Pedersen (Hvid) was called Rasmus Hvid, but not christened Hvid, and in the official papers the correct name was used plus the extra. Also nicknames were used.


Svend Aage
6200

[Grethe Leerbech]

You may need a further explanaiton, often they gave the nickname after the place they lived, came from, or the name of the farm.
Christen Storgaard ( bigfarm) , Jens Thybo (comming from Thy), and often the priest also only wrote the nickname, so it is difficult to find the parents, because the fathers christian name, the so called patronym, is not written any place. ex. Christen Jensen (Storgaard). Jens was his fathers name and Jens Nielsen Thybo, Niels was his fathers Chrisian name.
God luck with your search

Grethe

[PrivateUser]

Svend Aage and Grethe,

Thank you both very much for the very good information. I thought maybe it had to do with farm names similar to rural Norway, from where I also have ancestors. So far, I have seen two men in my Danish family tree who "inherited" the same "nickname" from their fathers. It took me a very long time---years---to figure out why my grandmother's grandmother's half- and step-brothers decided to use the last name "White" when they emigrated to America. They did not keep their original Danish surname when they emigrated. There is nothing in our family history with the original/ancestral surname. Now that I have found their father, I know why. Hvid=White.

Thank you very much for your help.

Kristine Pitkin
Corvallis, Oregon