Icelandic names can be difficult to pronounce, spell and understand when being spoken, especially for someone that doesn’t know the language. Even though, Icelandic people are pretty laid back about many things, mainly because they live in a world where flexibility of plans is a crucial part of their survival, they take their names seriously. I will first start out with explaining the structure of Icelandic names, and then I will delve a bit deeper into the fascinating rules and unique cultural aspects of this system.
Structure of Icelandic Names
In Iceland, a native person’s last name is usually a combination of their father’s first name and if they are his daughter or son. I say usually because this system is mostly patronymic. However, there are people whose last name is a combination of their mother’s first name and if they are her daughter or son.
For example, let’s say there is a woman named Guðrún who has a father with the first name Jón. Her name will be Guðrún Jónsdóttir, or literally Guðrún the daughter of Jón. If there is a man named Guðmundur and his father´s first name is Helgi, his name will be Guðmundur Helgason. Literally, his name is Guðmundur the son of Helgi. You might have noticed that the names Jón and Helgi changed a little bit when they became last names (Jónsdóttir and Helgason). This has to do with the structure of the Icelandic language and how words are declined depending on the grammatical case they are in.
Additionally, someone’s last name can be a combination of their parent’s middle name and their gender. Some Icelandic people prefer to be called by their middle name rather than their first name. In fact, an Icelander might decide that their middle fits the child’s name better when made into a last name.
An Easy System to Learn
While this system might confusing at first, the good news is that the learning curve for understanding this system is fairly easy. If you know an Icelandic person’s full name, you will know right away if they are male or female. This can be helpful, especially since some Icelandic first names are quite unique. For instance, it might be hard for a foreigner to know if someone named Guðbjörg is male or female. Just for the record, it is a female name. Random side note, I am curious to see how Iceland’s system adapts to individuals that do not conform to a gender, but I won’t be diving into that topic today.
A Country (Mostly) Without Family Names
Because an Icelandic person’s last name is dependent on one of their parent’s first names and their gender, there are mostly no family names. For example, a family of four that has two parents and two kids, one male and the other female, will all have different last names. In the following example, I will do my best to explain this. However, if it gets confusing, please check out the list of names for the family below.
Gunnar Guðmundsson is married to Katrín Einarsdóttir. They have two kids, a daughter named Guðný and a son named Björgvin. The parents have decided to take the traditional route and the kids last names will have the father’s first name. The full names of the kids are Guðný Gunnarsdóttir and Björgvin Gunnarsson. When you look at all of the names spelled out in a row, they are all different.
Icelandic Family of 4 (Example)
- Gunnar Guðmundsson
- Katrín Einardóttir
- Guðný Gunnarsdóttir
- Björgvin Gunnarsson
Of course, same sex siblings, such as brothers, will have the same last name in a family as long as they share the same father or mother whose first or middle name is being used for their last name.
Icelandic people do not see this system as strange. However, the majority of people from other countries are shocked to hear this fact. Finding this out made Iceland even more intriguing to me, and it might even do the same for you.
While the surname system that I mentioned to you is the most common in Iceland, there are some people that have family names. There are very few family names here. Most of them were created by Icelanders that lived abroad in Denmark and adapted to the family name system before returning to Iceland. Some famous Icelandic people have inherited family names, such as Halldór Laxness, Iceland’s only Nobel laureate. There is a reason that there are few Icelandic people with inherited surnames That reason is that a law was put in place after 1925 that prohibited Icelandic people from having a family name unless that person has a legal right to do so through inheritance.
Issues with the Icelandic Naming System
The one downside to this system is that it can sometimes cause issues for families that are traveling abroad, especially with young children, because the members of the family have different last names. If an immigration officer is not familiar with this naming system, it can lead to lots of questions and potentially a delay in travel.
Another result from this naming system is that some expatriate Icelandic people that have adopted the family name system of the country they are living in, such as places like Canada and the U.S., end up having family names that are incompatible with the original system. For instance, if Steinar Magnússon moved to Canada permanently and decided to take up the family name system, all of his offspring would have the last name Magnússon.
It is incompatible because none of his offspring would be the son of Magnús. It is especially fascinating to see a woman with the last name that ends in son because she is clearly not the son of that person. Even though this is strange for Icelandic people to see, it is quite normal for non Icelandic people, mainly because they are familiar with the inherited family name system.
A lot of the Same Icelandic Names
When I first moved here, one thing I found to be quite confusing was that many people can appear to have the same last name but they don’t share the same parents. This has to do with the popularity of certain first names. One would assume that this system would make it confusing for Icelandic people to know who is who when they are talking about someone. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Iceland is a small enough place that context, nicknames and a simple system allows for Icelandic people to talk about two Arnar Olafssons without getting them confused. It might be that one of the Arnar’s has the middle name Már. If so, they might then refer to one as Arnar and the other as Arnar Már.
If the person doesn’t have a middle name, then they might be called by their first name and the beginning of their last name. An example of this is that two men named Jón Stefánsson and the other Jón Þorláksson, one could address Jón Stefánsson as “Jón Stefáns” and Jón Þorláksson as “Jón Þorláks”.
Nicknames are also used and they can vary according to the name. Additionally, one name can have many different nicknames associated with it. For instance, a man named Halldór might have the nickname Dóri, dóddi or Halli. This nickname is chosen early on in life and usually sticks with the person throughout their life.
I find it kind of funny that this country has so few people that the phone book in Iceland is alphabetized by first name. Check out ja.is to search for Icelandic names.
Icelandic Naming Committee
If you have ever wondered why there are so many people in Iceland with the same first name, you might be surprised to know that it is not just because Icelandic people like those particular names. In fact, the Icelandic National Registry or Þjóðskrá, has a list of approved Icelandic names that people have to choose from in the country. Whether an Icelander wants to change their name or pick out a name for their baby, they must choose a name from the list.
While it would be great for the naming system to be self-governed, it seems that Icelandic people don’t want to take any chances. They have a committee of people that keeps track of and updates the naming list. If you want a name for yourself or your child that is not on the list, you have to submit it to the naming committee and wait for their approval.
While this probably sounds overly strict and impinging on Icelandic people’s freedom to choose whatever name they want, there are some valid reasons for these rules.
Strict Rules & Regulations
One of the most important is that the structure of the Icelandic language doesn’t work for every name, and that is because there are set of rules on how a name is declined in Icelandic, given a certain grammatical case. You got a taste of that when I talked about Icelanders having different last names. This list of names helps Icelandic people to preserve their archaic language, which is a national treasure. If you would like to learn more about the history of the Icelandic language, check out episode 2 of this podcast, which is gives you a brief history of the language, if you haven’t already. I will have a link to it in the show notes on my website.
Another reason, is that in the 1880s Icelandic nationalists were afraid that they would become like Denmark, so politicians in the country proposed laws that standardized Icelandic names.
Emotional Connection to a Name
The last but certainly not the least reason, is that many of the same names in Iceland is centered on sentimental value. Many Icelandic people are named after someone in their family or a person that has sentimental value to the parent or parents that named the kid. These names can date back to settlement times. It is a cool way of preserving the country’s history and honoring someone that is close to your heart. However, it doesn’t mean that names that are not traditionally Icelandic are not included in the mix of names to choose from on the list.
One fascinating fact is that up until 1991 foreigners that moved to the country had to choose an Icelandic name if they wanted to be granted citizenship. The law was relaxed a bit but up until 1995, a foreigner that wanted citizenship had to take an Icelandic name in addition to their given name.
Naming Your Child in Iceland
Another cultural phenomenon is that Icelandic people have up to six months after birth to pick a name for their child. I think it is nice that the parent or parents have a decent amount of time to choose a name for their kid. You essentially get a chance to try out different names. Icelandic parents will refer to their kid as boy (drengur) or girl (stúlka), or the ubiquitous ástin mín before they have settled on a name. To celebrate, most Icelanders gather friends and family for a naming party.
If you are from a Nordic country, or if you are familiar with names from those countries, you probably noticed that some of the names sound similar. As mentioned in previous episodes of these podcast, Iceland was settled by mostly Norwegian people. It is not a coincidence that they have some similarities with those Nordic countries. It is also worth noting that Iceland is the only country in Western Europe that still using patronymics.
Now that you have learned a bit about Iceland’s unique naming system, I am going to next segment of the show, which is a random fact about Iceland.
Random fact about Iceland
About 80% percent of the population share the 200 most popular names in the country. The most popular male names are Jón, Sigurður, and Guðmundur. The most popular female names are Guðrún, Anna and Kristín.
Icelandic word of the day
– Nafn = name
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