# (Spinoff) What patronymic does an Icelandic foundling have **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2014, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347 "2014-01-09T10:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/1 "2014-01-09T10:32:01Z")
(Spinoff off [this thread](http://http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516908)) The project I’m working on right now is a dungeonpunk fantasy novel set in a country that looks a lot like medieval Iceland and Norway and has a plot involving a young cutpurse who’s fostered by a dwarven fence. The narrator’s name is Bjarki Thórinsson. The patronymic is his foster father’s name given to him when he was adopted. He was born in a hospital (in the medieval sense) sent to a nurse and given a first name. That leads to the question. What patronymic would Bjarki have been given before he was taken into the hospital? Is/was there a generic Icelandic patronymic for a child whose parents are unknown? The fact that he doesn’t have any known relatives is an important plot point. ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/2 "2014-01-09T10:53:11Z")
_of_ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/3 "2014-01-09T11:01:58Z")
Linky was noworky, [correction](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516908). ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/4 "2014-01-09T11:27:17Z")
@Nava: Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/5 "2014-01-09T19:51:40Z")
I think in pre-Communist Russia, foundling boys were given the patronymic Abramov (son of Abraham). The same name is given to converts to Judaism – for their Hebrew name, they use Ben Avraham. Maybe Iceland uses a similar name – Abrahamsson perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/6 "2014-01-10T00:54:47Z")
Tangent: “Abramovich” is a generic Russian patronymic? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Huvudtvatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Huvudtvatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huvudtvatt)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/7 "2014-01-15T14:56:27Z")
He likely wouldn’t have had a patronymic name at all. The use of patronymic names among common people didn’t become widespread until after the middle ages. I don’t know about the sagas but if you look at runestones you will see that people are only mentioned by their first name. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spinoff-what-patronymic-does-an-icelandic-foundling-have/678347/8 "2014-01-15T17:02:07Z")
Or when you’re trying to distinguish between several Thorfinns–do you mean Thorfinn Erikson or Thorfinn Ivarson?