Icelandic surnames: why almost nobody has a family name

Most people in Iceland do not have a family name. The last word in a name is a parent’s first name, usually the father’s, followed by “son” or “dóttir”. A man called Jón Einarsson has a son, Ólafur. Ólafur’s surname is Jónsson: son of Jón. If Ólafur has a daughter called Sigrún, she is Sigrún Ólafsdóttir.

So a father and his children never share a surname, and siblings can carry different ones if their parents differ. The first place a visitor notices this is the phone book, which is sorted by first name.

How a surname is built

The rule is mechanical. Take the parent’s first name in the genitive, the form Icelandic uses to show possession, and add the suffix. The genitive changes the ending of the name: Einar becomes Einarsson, Magnús becomes Magnússon, Helga becomes Helgadóttir.

There is also the matronymic, built from the mother’s name. Ólafur, son of Bryndís, can be Ólafur Bryndísarson. Some people carry both, as the politician Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson does, and Wikipedia notes that others use a parent’s second given name.

According to Registers Iceland, when the parents are neither married nor in a registered partnership and paternity has not been declared, the child is given a matronymic. That is a registry rule, not a cultural preference: the surname follows what is on record.

The “bur” suffix and the 2019 law

In 2019 a gender autonomy law opened a third option. People officially registered as non-binary can use the suffix “bur”, meaning “child of”. Sigrún Ólafsdóttir would be Sigrún Ólafsbur. First names also stopped being restricted by gender, according to Wikipedia.

Why the phone book uses first names

If a large share of the country were called Jónsson, sorting by surname would help nobody. The Icelandic phone book is sorted by first name and lists each person’s profession, so two people with the same full name can be told apart.

The habit carries into daily life. Icelanders generally address one another by first name, and Wikipedia records that this holds even in formal situations.

What about family names?

They exist, but they are rare and their history is short. In 1913 the Althing, Iceland’s parliament, made it legal to adopt a family name. In 1925 it banned new ones. Since then, family names can only be kept by people who inherited them.

The numbers show how thin the custom was. According to Wikipedia, there were 108 family names in 1855 and 297 in 1910, adopted mostly by civil servants and the university-educated. The novelist Halldór Laxness, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955, is one example: Laxness is not a patronymic.

Part of the pressure was practical. In the mid-19th century about one in six Icelandic men was called Jón, which made people hard to tell apart. In 2018 the courts recognised comedian and former Reykjavik mayor Jón Gnarr’s second name as a family name, an exception to the rule.

Who decides which names exist

Iceland also controls first names. A new name has to pass the Personal Names Committee, set up in 1991. Its members are appointed by the Minister of Justice for four-year terms.

According to the government’s official portal, a name must take a genitive ending or already be established by custom, fit Icelandic structure and spelling, and not embarrass the person who bears it. Nobody can have more than three names. A child must be named before the age of six months, and only the people with custody can choose the name. The committee’s ruling cannot be overturned by another government body.

The list keeps growing slowly: in January 2024 the committee approved six new names, the Reykjavík Grapevine reported.

The Blær case

In 2013 a 15-year-old girl named Blær had her name rejected by the committee. In Icelandic, blær is a masculine noun. Her mother had chosen it after a character in Laxness’s novel “The Fish Can Sing”. A court overruled the committee and the girl kept her name.

In practice

When you look someone up, use the first name. In bookings, contacts and paperwork, the surname mainly separates people with the same first name rather than identifying a family.
When you are introduced, use the first name, without “Mr” or “Ms”. That is normal in Iceland.
Parents and children with different surnames are routine there, not a sign of anything unusual.

Some Icelanders who emigrate end up using the surname of their new country. Others keep a patronymic as a fixed surname. Wikipedia gives the broadcaster Magnus Magnusson, born Magnús Sigursteinsson, as an example: his family took his father’s patronymic as their surname after moving to the UK.

Frequently asked questions

Do Icelanders have surnames?

Yes, but usually it is a parent’s first name plus “son” or “dóttir”. True family names exist, though they are few.

What does “dóttir” mean?

It means daughter. “Jónsdóttir” is daughter of Jón. The masculine equivalent is “son”.

Do parents and children share a surname in Iceland?

Almost never. The surname changes each generation because it comes from a parent’s first name.

Can I give a child any name in Iceland?

No. A name not on the official list needs approval from the Personal Names Committee, and it has to fit Icelandic grammar.

If you are planning a trip, it is worth reading about the rule to shower naked before the pools and the mosquitoes Iceland does not have. For another case of language shaping everyday manners, see how Korean age decided how people speak to each other.

Sources

Icelandic name, Wikipedia: how patronymics and matronymics are formed, the 1913 law and the 1925 ban, the 1855 and 1910 figures, the “bur” suffix, the Blær case and Jón Gnarr’s exception.
Icelandic Naming Committee, Wikipedia: the committee’s creation in 1991 and its four-year terms.
Name giving, Government of Iceland (island.is): the criteria for a name, the three-name limit, the six-month deadline and the finality of the committee’s ruling.
Name giving, Registers Iceland (Þjóðskrá): the matronymic rule when paternity has not been declared.
Six names added to naming list, Reykjavík Grapevine, 29 January 2024: the six new approved names.