Question: Which father is referenced by the Scandinavian last name possessed by 161,379 in 2012 ?

text: Scandinavian family name etymology
Denmark
The most common Danish family name surnames are patronymic and end in -sen ; for example Rasmussen , originally meaning `` son of Rasmus '' ( Rasmus ' son ) . Descendants of Danish or Norwegian immigrants to the United States frequently have similar names ending in the suffix `` -sen '' or have changed the spelling to `` -son '' . Approximately one-third of the Danish population bear one of the ten most common surnames . More than two-thirds have a patronym ending in -sen in their full name . Many of these patronymics are , however , very rare , local or testimony of unusual descent , e.g . Heilesen from Northern Jutland , Holdensen and Boldsen from the former Duchy of Schleswig or Common etymological classes of surnames are occupational ( e.g. , Møller - miller , Schmidt - smith , and Fisker - fisher , for example names taken after a village or farmstead inhabited by ancestors . Other higher class people took heritable surnames during the following centuries , clergy often Latinized names ( e.g . Pontoppidan made from Broby ) and artisans often Germanized names . Naming acts applying to all citizens were issued 1771 ( for the Duchy of Schleswig only ) and in 1828 . The rural population only reluctantly gave up the traditional primary patronyms . Several naming acts replaced the first ; in 1856 , 1904 , 1961 , 1981 , 2005 . The result of the first act was that most people took a patronymic surname as their heritable family name , with the overwhelming dominance of a few surnames as a consequence . Later acts have attempted to motivate people to change to surnames that would allow safer identification of individuals . In the table , the top surnames in Denmark are listed as of 1971 [ 2 ] and 2012 . [ 3 ] The general tendency over the past century has been to give up the commonest names and adopt less frequently-used ones .
Heritable family names were generally adopted rather late within Scandinavia. Nobility were the first to take names that would be passed on from one generation to the next. Later, clergy, artisans and merchants in cities took heritable names. Family names (surnames) were still used together with primary patronyms (father's name plus an affix denoting relationship), which were used by all social classes. This meant that most families until modern times did not have surnames. Scandinavian patronyms were generally derived from the father's given name with the addition of a suffix meaning 'son' or 'daughter' or by occupation like Møller - ( Miller ) naming tradition remained commonly used throughout the Scandinavian countries during the time of surname formation. Forms of the patronymic suffixes include: -son, -sen, -fen, -søn, -ler, -zen, -zon/zoon, and -ssøn .
Rank Surname Number of bearers 1971 Number of bearers 2012 Type Etymology
1 Jensen 368,631 264,824 patronymic son of Jens
2 Nielsen 349,126 264,159 patronymic son of Niels
3 Hansen 297,937 220,956 patronymic son of Hans
4 Pedersen 203,426 166,417 patronymic son of Peder
5 Andersen 188,359 161,379 patronymic son of Anders
6 Christensen 159,943 121,147 patronymic son of Christen
7 Larsen 148,214 118,144 patronymic son of Lars
8 Sørensen 139,111 113,207 patronymic son of Søren
9 Rasmussen 117,355 96,250 patronymic son of Rasmus
10 Jørgensen 110,132 89,846 patronymic son of Jørgen
11 Petersen 130,236 81,250 patronymic son of Peter
12 Madsen 76,441 65,222 patronymic son of Mads
13 Kristensen 58,990 61,274 patronymic son of Kristen
14 Olsen 65,194 49,091 patronymic son of Ole
15 Thomsen 40,180 39,473 patronymic son of Thomas
16 Christiansen 45,984 37,493 patronymic son of Christian
17 Poulsen 36,544 32,526 patronymic son of Poul
18 Johansen 36,470 31,517 patronymic son of Johan
19 Møller 31,645 30,321 occupational miller
20 Johnsen 28,660 24,787 patronymic son of Jon