What does Judges 18:29 mean?

The people of the tribe of Dan had a self-caused problem. They failed to conquer their allotted territory in Israel (Joshua 19:40–46; Judges 1:34–36). This forced them to live in limited space in the hill country of their territory, squeezed between foreign oppressors and territories occupied by Ephraim and Judah. Some portion of the small tribe—perhaps even all of them, eventually—decided to seek out a new home (Judges 18:1–7).

After robbing a man of his household idols and priest (Judges 18:14–20), the raiding party from Dan succeeded in migrating far to the north, beyond the northern end of the Sea of Galilee. They selected Laish, in part, because it was a soft target: unsuspecting, quiet, far from help, and peaceful (Judges 18:8–13). On arrival, the Danites slaughtered the Sidonian population and took it as their new hometown (Judges 18:27–28).

Now they rename the place after themselves, calling the town "Dan." This was the name of their ancestor, after whom their tribe was named. Dan (Genesis 30:5–6) was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, also called Israel (Genesis 35:10).