A Dane is a person from Denmark, a small but historically significant country in Northern Europe. Denmark sits on a peninsula called Jutland and includes hundreds of islands, positioned where the North Sea meets the Baltic Sea.

The Danes have influenced world history far beyond their country's small size. More than a thousand years ago, Danish Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic, exploring and settling places from England to Iceland. Today, Denmark is known for its innovative design, its bicycle-friendly cities, and its contributions to science and literature. The famous storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote “The Little Mermaid” and “The Ugly Duckling,” was a Dane.

You might also hear about a Great Dane, which is a very large dog breed. Despite the name, this gentle giant was actually developed in Germany, not Denmark, though the reason for its name remains somewhat mysterious.

When you meet someone and they say “I'm a Dane” or “I'm Danish,” they're telling you about their connection to Denmark, whether they were born there, grew up there, or their family comes from there.