The location of the farmstead

A Danish farm near Vejle, about 1870

Damgaard, Damsgaard

located by the (village) Pond

Enggaard

located near or in the meadow

Gammelgaard

"the old farmstead"

Hedegaard

located near or in a heath area

Kirkegaard, Kierkegaard

located by the Church (supporting the vicarage)

Kjærgaard, Kjærsgaard

located by the (village) Pond

Nygaard, Nyegaard

"the new farmstead"

Nørgaard, Nordgaard, Nørregaard

located north of the village

Mølgaard, Møllergaard

the millers farmstead

Skovgaard

located in or near the woods

Storgaard

"the large farmstead"

Søgaard, Søegaard

located by the lake

Søndergaard, Søndregaard

located south of the village

Vestgaard, Vestergaard

located west of the village

Østgaard, Østergaard

located east of the village

Aagaard

located near the stream

Other names of farmsteads are: Abildgaard, Bakkegaard, Bjerregaard, Bredgaard, Bundgaard, Dahlgaard, Dalgaard, Dalsgaard, Elgaard, Hovgaard, Højgaard, Højsgaard, Ladegaard, Langgaard, Løkkegaard, Lundgaard, Nedergaard, Nedregaard, Overgaard, Piilgaard, Pilegaard, Pilgaard, Provstgaard, Præstegaard, Skovgaard, Stengaard, Storgaard, Strandgaard

These names only refer to farms of a certain size as smallholdings rarely had a name.

The number of farmsteads would, of course, vary from parish to parish. Only a few of the names mentioned above would be found near the same village, mixed in with a vicarage, a mill, several houses and perhaps a couple of farmsteads with unique names.

Unique names

Another example is the surname Mariegaard. All carriers of this surname can trace their origin back to either Mariegaard in Børglum Parish, Hjørring County or to Mariegaard in Broager Parish, Sønderborg County.

If a farm is well-known, the next owners might also acquire their surname from the same farm, thus establishing two independent branches of the same name. An example is the farm of Rokholm in Vraa Parish, Aalborg County, where two subsequent owners acquired their surname from this farm.