Hansen or Hanssen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈhænsn̩]) is a Scandinavian patronymic surname, meaning son of Hans.
[2] In the Faroe Islands Hansen is the second most common surname, while in the North German federal states of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg Hansen is the third and fifth most common surname, respectively.
The frequent occurrences of Hansen as a surname outside Denmark,[4] 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.
As of 2014, 33.5% of all known bearers of the surname Hansen were residents of Denmark (frequency 1:28), 31.6% of the United States (1:1,933), 10.5% of Norway (1:83), 10.2% of Germany (1:1,330), 2.3% of Canada (1:2,658), 2.3% of Australia (1:1,773), 1.3% of Sweden (1:1,325) and 1.2% of South Africa (1:7,460).
In Denmark, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:28) in the following regions: In Norway, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:83) in the following regions:[5] Notable people with the surname include: