Hansen (surname)


Hansen or Hanssen is a Scandinavian patronymic surname, meaning "son of Hans". As of 2008, it is the third most common surname in Denmark, shared by 4.3% of the population. As of 2000, Hansen is the single most common surname in Norway, not counting spelling variations such as Hanssen, which are also quite common. In the Faroe Islands, Hansen is the second most common surname, while in the North German federal states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, it is the third and fifth most common surname, respectively.
In Sweden the parallel form is Hansson. The frequent occurrences of Hansen as a surname outside Denmark, Norway and Schleswig-Holstein is due to Danish immigration, though Nordic immigrants to English-speaking countries often anglicised their names to Hanson in order to accommodate English orthographic rules.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 33.5% of all known bearers of the surname Hansen were residents of Denmark, 31.6% of the United States, 10.5% of Norway, 10.2% of Germany, 2.3% of Canada, 2.3% of Australia, 1.3% of Sweden and 1.2% of South Africa.
In Denmark, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following regions:
  1. Region Zealand
  2. Region of Southern Denmark
In Norway, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following regions:
  1. Northern Norway
  2. Svalbard and Jan Mayen
  3. Eastern Norway
  4. Southern Norway

Notable people

Notable people with the surname include:

Arts and entertainment

Politics

Science

Sport

Other people