Danish exonyms

Danish language exonyms for non Danish speaking locations exist, primarily in Europe, but many of these are no longer commonly used, with a few notable exceptions. Rom (Rome), Lissabon (Lisboa (Lisbon)), Sankt Petersborg (St Petersburg) and Prag (Prague) are still compulsory, while e. g. Venedig is more common than Venezia (Venice). In the decades following World War II, there has been a strong tendency towards replacing Danish exonyms with the native equivalent used in the foreign country itself. Possibly this is because many of these Danish forms (e. g. for names in Belgium, Italy and Eastern Europe) were imported from German. Until recently, it was official Danish policy to use Danish exonyms on road signs if Danish forms were commonly used and known. This has, however, been changed following a change in international agreements. Currently, one can still see Danish road signs pointing towards Flensborg and Hamborg across the border, however Nibøl has been replaced by Niebüll. Signs leading to the Sound Bridge usually have Malmø with Danish spelling. In Southern Schleswig, the region south of the Danish German border, a set of original (or, in some cases, reconstructed) Danish placenames exists alongside the German names, just as most North Slesvig placenames have German counterparts dating from the period under Prussian rule (1864–1920). The Danish placenames in Southern Schleswig are used by the local Danish minority and their media, while some in Denmark may avoid using them for political reasons. The use of German placenames in North Slesvig is similarly preferred by the local German minority (when speaking and writing German), but traditionally shunned by many Danes in the region. From 2008, municipalities in Schleswig Holstein have been allowed bilingual town signs with the official minority languages: Danish, North Frisian and Low German. So far, the city of Flensburg has been the only municipality to introduce bilingual German/Danish signs. Danish placenames dating from the colonial era exist for almost all major settlements in Greenland. Some of the places in question were founded as settlements under a Danish name, while others were originally Greenlandic toponyms. Very frequently, the Danish and Greenlandic names have different etymologies; while the former are often named after settlers or explorers, the latter usually describe geographical features. In 1983, a Danish law officially transferred the naming authority to the Greenlandic Home Rule. During the years before and after that, a complete set of Greenlandic placenames have ousted the former traditional Danish names. Danish names in Greenland are now mostly known or used by older generation Danish speakers or by Danes living in Greenland. Until recently, Greenland was still – both officially and de facto – bilingual, but Greenlandic has assumed the status of sole official language in Greenland, following the island's recent change from hjemmestyre (home rule) to selvstyre (autonomy). Faroese placenames were Danicised in an era when no Faroese orthography existed, but the Danish names were replaced by Faroese ones during the first half of the 20th century (somewhat later on maps). Today only Thorshavn is commonly used (alongside the Faroese Tórshavn and the hybrid Torshavn). An example of radical use of Danish exonyms can be found in many street names on the island of Amager, a part of Copenhagen. The city expanded greatly during the first half of the 20th century. Dozens of streets in the district were named after European cities or regions. It was deemed suitable for practical reasons that street names were adapted to Danish spelling rules, resulting in names such as Nyrnberggade and Lyneborggade.

From the 16th until the late 19th century, Danish was officially used, replacing the Norwegian written language, but then spelling reforms gradually replaced it with Dano Norwegian and the two present day forms of Norwegian: Bokmål and Nynorsk. Until then, a lot of Norwegian placenames were written in Danish. Almost all of them are now obsolete and not even used in Danish historical contexts. They may, however, still be used in the names of Norwegian newspapers, companies, institutions and associations. In present day Norway, they will often be perceived more as "ancient" names than as Danish ones. +English nameDanish nameEndonymNotesNameLanguageBear IslandBjørneøenBjørnøyaNorwegian"Øya" means "island". Several more islands in Norway ending in øya might be translated to øen in Danish, although less common now. OsloChristianiaOsloNorwegianarchaic; official name of Oslo until 1925 (although spelled Kristiania from 1877 onwards). Today mostly associated with the Copenhagen free town by the same name. FinnmarkFinmark(en)FinnmarkNorwegianarchaicLarvikLaurvig(en)LarvikNorwegianarchaicTrondheimTrondhjemTrondheimNorwegianoccasionally seen in Danish, and very often used in spoken language even in Norway

+ English name Danish nameEndonym NotesNameLanguageÄlvsborgElfsborgÄlvsborgSwedishAlso pre 1906 Swedish spellingÄngelholmEngelholmÄngelholmSwedishBarsebäck Barsebæk BarsebäckSwedishBåstad BaadstedBåstadSwedish ArchaicBlekinge BlegingBlekingeSwedish ArchaicBrömsebäck Brømsebæk BrömsebäckSwedishFalkenberg FalkenbjergFalkenbergSwedish ArchaicGotland GullandGotlandSwedish ArchaicGöinge Gønge (Herred)GöingeSwedishGothenburg Gøteborg GöteborgSwedishHalmstad HalmstedHalmstadSwedish ArchaicHässleholm HesselholmHässleholmSwedish Archaic. In Swedish until 1906 Hessleholm. Höganäs Høj(e)næsHöganäsSwedish ArchaicKnäred KnærødKnäredSwedish ArchaicKristianstad Christiansstad KristianstadSwedish Earlier spelling Christianstad is sometimes used in the town itself, and was official until the Swedish spelling reform of 1906Kristianopel Christianopel KristianopelSwedishKungsbacka Kongsbak(ke) KungsbackaSwedish ArchaicLandskrona Landskrone LandskronaSwedish ArchaicLimhamn Limhavn LimhamnSwedishMalmö Malmø MalmöSwedishÖstergötland Øster GyllandÖstergötlandSwedish ArchaicSimrishamn SimmershavnSimrishamnSwedish ArchaicStockholm StokholmStockholmSwedish Archaic, never gained widespread useVarberg VarbjergVarbergSwedish ArchaicVä Væ VäSwedishVästergötland Vester GyllandVästergötlandSwedish ArchaicVen Hven VenSwedish Danish form also preferred by islanders, outlived Swedish spelling reform of 1906 and was official until 1958Ystad Ysted YstadSwedish Archaic

Some of these forms are archaic, based on names used in the 17th century prior to the surrender of the Eastern Danish lands Skåne, Halland and Blekinge to Sweden. Modern usage is primarily confined to history books and Scanian activists. These forms were also used in a number of texts in the first decades of the 20th century. The only example consistently used in modern Danish is Hven, maybe because this form hinders confusion with the Danish word ven ("friend"). Since the opening of the Øresund Bridge, the form Malmø has again gained widespread use above Malmö. Engelholm and Øland (Öland) are occasionally seen. Knærød and Elfsborg are relatively common in historical works, due to their connection to historical events; the 1613 Peace of Knäred (Freden i Knærød) and the Ransom of Älvsborg (Elfsborgs løsen). The forms Gønge and Gønge Herred are also quite common given their connection to Svend Poulsen Gønge, known from the historical novel and TV series, Gøngehøvdingen. Some forms are just replacement of ä/ö with æ/ø based on computer keyboards used by the press. This can be used for further places, any with ä and ö, e. g. Växjö or Östersund, but are often considered misspellings. This is in contrast to Swedish exonyms for places in Denmark where æ and ø are usually converted by the press.