Anne and Peter the most common names among living Danes

But how long before likes of William and Emma overtake them?

Orsolya Albert

Anne and Peter are the two most popular names among living Danes, reports Danmarks Statistik.

However, neither are particularly common choices for new-borns today, and this is reflected in the age of the average Anne and Peter. They’d both be 51!

Look out for Ems
Completing the top five most popular female name list are Kristen, Mette, Hanne and Helle.

But again, none of these names are particularly popular amongst youngsters, and they will be over time be displaced by the likes of Emma, the most popular girls’ name of the past decade. On average, they are likely to be aged 44-69.

William catching up
Following Peter, the next most popular male names, typically inhabiting an age range of 41-58, are Michael, Jens, Lars and Thomas.

William, the most popular choice this decade in every year bar none, will no doubt be usurping the crown in future years in the fashion of its namesake conqueror of 1066.

Alma and Alfred on course
But Wills and Ems had better watch out, as apparently there are some new kids on the block set to make an impact when the top names for 2020 are confirmed over the summer.

Alma and Alfred, confirms Danmarks Statistik, were the most popular in the first half of 2020.

Spelling matters
One thing that often catches out newcomers to Denmark is the number of ways a christian name can be spelt, and on that note the name ‘Christian’ (with Kristen, Kristian, Cristian etc) is the most popular for males, with Michael advancing to second, and Lars dropping out of the top five.

For Anne, though, which is pronounced the same in Danish as Anna, there were no problems hanging onto the top crown.

Full name supremacy
The most popular full name was revealed to be Kristen Nielsen, followed by Kristen Jensen and Henrik Nielsen. There are over 600 people for each name.

For those with a middle name, the winners were Jens Jensen and Kristen Jensen with over 3,000 people each.

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