Alice, before the mid 1800's Denmark used a patronymic naming system. So if a male child's surname was Thomsen, his father's first name was Thomas. A daughter of Thomas would have the surname Thomasdatter. My family is from Thisted, and my grandfather was Solomon Thomsen (Thompson once he came to the USA). His father was Thomas Salomonsen, and his father was Salomon Thomasen, etc. Likewise, if a person's surname was Christensen, he was the son of a man whose first name was Christen, Nielsen was the son of Niels, etc. So, yes there were a lot of Thomsens, Christensens, Nielsens. Every generation, the surname changed. Hope this explains it a little better.