My parents just returned from Iceland and brought back the interesting fact that immigrants to Iceland are required to take Icelandic names. So what would yours be?
I think I like Sindri Agnarsson. Small, sparkling, sharp…
My name is Norwegian so I doubt it would have to be changed at all, unless they insist I go with the Icelandic spelling.
“Þórir Thorirsson”, is the one I like.
Is it just me, or do they just not have a lot of names there?
Since I am my father’s son, I feel it would be appropriate to take the name Son, which means “son” in Icelandic.
Then when I have a son, he would also be named Son. Son Sonsson.
Sonsson means “son of Son.”
I like Lilja (I’m guessing it’s pronounced “LIL-ya”?) a lot.
My problem with the last names is that they’re all -sons, and that bugs me. To be accurate (except for the gender thing), I guess I choose Vilhjalmsson
So, hello, I’m Lilja Viljalmsson!
Icelanders don’t really have surnames, per se. Icelandic names are “Firstname Fathersfirstnameson” or “Firstname Father’s Firstnamedottir”
So, Leif has two kids…a son named Petur, a daughter named Margret. His son is Petur Leifsson. His daughter is Margret Leifsdottir.
In your case, it would be Vilhjalmsdottir.
Just a small nitpick: Icelanders don’t have surnames. Their second names come from their father’s first name, so if you’re an Icelander, and your Father’s first name is “Thor”, then your second name is Thorsson or Thorsdottir.
Actually, an Icelander can choose whether his/her “last name” comes from either his/her mother or father–a patronymic or a matronymic is possible.
I could be “Q.N. Robertsdottir” or “Q.N. Joycesdottir.” Sometimes siblings choose to name themselves after different parents, so they don’t have the same “last name.”
Because of the nature of these “last names,” women do not change them when they marry.
Ragnheidur Vilhjalmurson, I guess.
Probably would be better for everyone if I never tried to say “Ragnheidur Vilhjalmurson” out loud. Small children should leave the room and blast-shields shall be issued before the first attempt.
I guess it’s been pretty homogenous and everyone was someone Icelandic’s son or daughter??
So what about immigrants? Can they then be referred to by decidedly unIcelandic patronomes?
Lilja Brunosdottir, for example? (Although my dad *is *a William, conveniently enough, hence my previous choice.)
I like Brynja. Brynja Karlsdottir.
I just finished reading the Poetic Edda and now I keep hearing Elmer Fudd in my head singing, “Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!”
My name is Jan Jansen (I live in Wisconsin, I work in a lumber mill dere… People I meet when I walk down the street, they say ‘what’s your name,’ and I saaaay…")
Eysteinn could reasonably be considered an Icelandic cognate of my actual first name (Justin), so that seems like a good choice. My father’s name is Philip, so I guess I’d Eysteinn Philipsson.
I’ll go with Fríða Johnsdottir.
Fríða means “beautiful, fair,” which is also what my real first name (Jennifer) means, and my father’s name is John. 
I’m of Swedish descent, so I’d probably go with the family name of Erickson, corrected to the proper Icelandic form.
Robert doesn’t translate, so I’d probably pick either Gunnar or Thor as a first name, as a tip of the hat to uncles or distant cousins.
There used to be a member or two from Iceland who were on this board, hopefully they will correct me if I am wrong.
I went to Iceland a couple of times - beautiful place, despite the name and myth that it is really Greenland.
At any rate, I was told that last names were “illegal” unless your parent was the President of Iceland.
Basically, all names of people in Iceland had the same rules:
I you are a male, and your father’s name is, for instance, “Chuck”…and you were named “Bill”, your full name would be Bill Chuckson (Bill Chuck’s son).
If you were a woman, and your mother’s name was “Betty” and you were named “Joan”, your name would be Joan Bettytochter (Joan Betty’s daugher).
Needless to say, it was difficult to find brother and sister names in the phone book.
I choose ‘Lara Olvirsson’. It rolls just right off my tongue.
Kristjana Stefansdottir
Nice! I feel very exotic all of the sudden!