If you want to get really technical, the Danish Royal
Family surname is Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. But back in Hamlet's day,
the time of medieval Kings, there was no house name or
surname.
(As you may know, the surname of British Royalty
used to be Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but, because of World War I, it was changed to Windsor in
a rejection of German associations in 1917.)
So, Hamlet's
father was King Hamlet, and his son, also named Hamlet, was Prince Hamlet or Hamlet,
Prince of Denmark.
The same probably goes for everyone in
the play: Claudius is just Claudius, Gertrude, Gertrude, etc. At best, just to
differentiate individuals with the same name, people may have been named something like
this: if your name was John and you were the son of Eric, you would be John
Ericson.
Hmmm, Hamlet Hamletson? Doesn't sound right
somehow. Let's leave it as Hamlet.
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