What Do You Call Someone From Denmark? (Find Out!)

Someone from Denmark is called a Dane, and they are a Danish person. Danes themselves consider Danish to be a nationality and not an ethnicity, and sometimes immigrants are referred to as new Danes. Contemporary Danish identity is not based on ideas of racial heritage, generally, but on historical and cultural principles.

Denmark has been inhabited for millennia, though of course the modern idea of a nation state does not come into the question until very recently.

For various reasons Denmark and its history have become culturally important to the western world on the whole, and yet at the same time many native Danes today feel their own identity to be something quite different.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

What is someone from Denmark called?

Someone from Denmark is called a Dane.

The simplest way to look at it is in terms of modern ideas of nationality.

The nation state is a relatively recent invention, and though “Denmark” in some sense has been a concept in people’s minds for an awfully long time,

Denmark itself has only existed in the modern sense for a relatively short period of time.

Someone today who is either born into Danish citizenship or attains Danish citizenship is themselves a Dane.

As mentioned, Danes often call immigrants new Danes.

Importantly, a person is a Dane, but they are Danish—this is just a question of word form.

“Dane” is a noun whereas “Danish” is an adjective.

A person is “a Dane”, or anything from Denmark is “Danish”—whether that is a person or a pastry.

There has been a Danish monarchy for millennia, but again it is only recently that the country as we know it today has been formed.

Danish identity is a complex question, then, based on values formed through the historical Danish nation—these include both ancient ideas of the early medieval Danish kingdom, as well as 19^th Century nationalist ideals, and indeed close ties to the rest of Scandinavia.

Importantly, Denmark is one of the Nordic countries, a cultural and geographical region comprised of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

This is not the same as Scandinavia, which is a purely geographical distinction.

So, many Danes may also consider themselves to be “Nordic” in some sense, though this is of course very distinct from national identity.

But again, the shared cultural values between countries in the Nordic area are a very important part of Danish identity and heritage.

Where, then, does the name “Denmark” come from?

Where does the name “Denmark” come from?

There is a great deal of academic debate on the question of the precise origin of the name Denmark.

The basic argument is whether the original morpheme Dan relates to a single individual or a group of people, the Dani.

The Dani were a southern Scandinavian tribe who originally founded what became Denmark.

Most agree that the term Dan originally referred to flat land, which is where the tribe got its name.

This is related to German Tenne and English “den”. The “mark” element of the name is thought to mean either woodland or borderland.

Rune stones from the 10^th Century include the name Danmark, and this is the earliest reference we have to the country’s name.

The modern form of the name is first attested in the late 14^th Century—earlier it had been Denemark and even Dene-mearce in Old English.

Most likely, though, the name for the country derived originally from the people who lived there, and not the other way around.

People at this time would have considered their affinity much more to their people than to the place they lived, since migrations were frequent at this time.

Who are Dutch and Danish?

One common mistake people make is in mixing up the Dutch and the Danish.

Both peoples are Germanic, but they are not the same.

Someone from Denmark is a Dane, they are Danish—someone who is Dutch is from the Netherlands.

Dutch, also, is the language of the Netherlands.

Though both countries can be found in northern Europe and their languages are closely related, they are not the same and are not directly connected any more than Denmark is to Germany or even Britain.

In all this, though, it’s important to note that not all Danes live in Denmark—there is a considerable diaspora elsewhere in the world.

Where do Danes live?

Danes live in many places in the world, and so this too can cause questions about identity.

There are around 7 million total Danes in the world, and Denmark accounts for roughly 5 million of those.

The United States has a huge Danish population, with close to 1.5 million Danes living in the United States.

Many of these Danes likely take great pride in their Danish heritage, but they may also feel themselves to be American in some sense.

There are also around 200,000 Danes living in Canada, and a further 100,000 spread across Norway and Australia.

Danes live all over the world in very large numbers.

So, one crucial piece of advice I can give you is not to confuse Dane with Dutch—they are two entirely separate things, as similar as they may sound!

Someone from Denmark, then, is a Dane, and while this may mean different things to different people, it is certainly the simplest way of answering the question; it can always be a bit muddled when you have questions of national vs ethnic identity.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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