Jonas Vingegaard is now a Hansen and I for one, very much approve
The Dane took his wife’s last name as per an update on the UCI website
Hansen is the third most popular last name in Denmark, with Nielsen and Jensen leading the way. In Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, the sen, or son, means “son,” so Hansen means son of Hans. The majority of Danish names, are in fact based on this protocol, known as patronymics. Both my parents, who were born in Denmark, had the surname Hansen before they were married. (And no, they weren’t related.)
Middle names are a relatively new concept in Denmark. In fact, they were not recognized by Danish law prior to 1904. The middle name usually refers most often to names that were originally surnames, such as a mother’s birth name or the last name of another ancestor. My middle name, for example, Stjernegaard, comes from my Grandfather.
Given that there are so many people with the same surname, many Danes actually prefer to use their middle name since you end up with so many people with the same name. Magnus Cort Nielsen, for example, from UNO-X, goes by Magnus Cort.
Vingegaard’s wife’s name is Trine Marie Hansen. It seems, judging by his name on the UCI website, that he has swapped his previous surname, Rasmussen, for hers. But like I said, given that there are so many Rasmussens in Denmark, including a quite (in)famous cyclist, he has always gone by Jonas Vingegaard.
Either way, welcome to the club, Jonas. We are happy to have you. A Hansen has never won the Tour, so let’s try and do that for the fam.
