Recliner wrote:
NY wrote:
"Sam Wilson" wrote in message
...
NY wrote:
In Icelandic, do *both* the sons and the daughters take the father's
first
name? I have vague memories of being told that daughter's sometimes take
the
mother's first name - so Magnus and Oddny (*) might have a son with a
surname Magnusson and a daughter with a surname Oddnydottir (rather than
Magnusdottir).


Search for “iceland� he
https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names

Shame it doesn't say in what circumstances the daughter's surname is based
on her mother's rather than father's first name. I wonder if there's a
convention or just "whichever sounds better".

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia:

The vast majority of Icelandic last names carry the name of the father, but
occasionally the mother's name is used: e.g. if the child or mother wishes
to end social ties with the father. Some women use it as a social statement
while others simply choose it as a matter of style.

In all of these cases, the convention is the same: Ólafur, the son of
BryndÃ*s, will have the full name of Ólafur BryndÃ*sarson ("the son of
BryndÃ*s"). Some well-known Icelanders with matronymic names are the
football player Heiðar Helguson ("Helga's son"), the novelist Guðrún Eva
MÃ*nervudóttir ("Minerva's daughter"), and the medieval poet EilÃ*fr
Goðrúnarson ("Goðrún's son").

In the Icelandic film Bjarnfreðarson the title character's name is the
subject of some mockery for his having a woman's name – as Bjarnfreður's
son – not his father's. In the film this is connected to the mother's
radical feminism and shame over his paternity, which form part of the
film's plot.[9] Some people have both a matronymic and a patronymic: for
example, Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson ("the son of Bergþóra and Eggert"),
the mayor of ReykjavÃ*k since 2014. Another example is the girl Blær
mentioned above: her full name is Blær Bjarkardóttir Rúnarsdóttir ("the
daughter of Björk and Rúnar").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name#Matronymic_naming_as_a_choice



The other thing I’ve noticed about the use of Icelandic names is that
everyone addresses each other with their first name. So no referring to
your boss as Mr Blogs, he’s just Fred.