After that first blissful night in an Icelandic nightclub, the next thing you’ll want to do is have an Icelandic baby. This is perfectly understandable, but be warned: you’ll have to give it an Icelandic name. It’s the law.
You might frown at a rule dictating what you may or may not name your child, muttering something about freedom of choice, but you’ll soon find the rules helpful. After all, the more interesting your child’s name, the more interesting you yourself appear to be, so naming your kid Aðalbjörg will give you all sorts of cool cache. Plus it will prove to your friends and family that you’re finally shacking up with an Icelander.
But some Icelandic names sound disappointingly English, so avoid “Jón”, “Davið”, “Anna”, “María” and “Nóvember” at all costs. Instead, how about “Snjólaukur” for a boy, or “Grettisgata” for a girl? Whatever you do, do not name your baby “Björk” — it’s just trying too hard.
Hopefully you already understand about the Icelandic last-name conventions, which dictate that boys take their father’s first name and stick a “son” on the end of it and girls have to do the same with “dóttir”. And if you’re really, truly traditional you’ll give your son both his father’s first name and last name as a special treat — which is how the world was blessed with the likes of Magnus Magnusson.
But try to be original: there are many beautiful Icelandic names to choose from - some more pronounceable than others. Luckily, nearly all Icelanders are given nicknames that are shortened, easier versions of their birth-names at some point, which means that no matter what you choose to name your child, it will inevitably be known as either Siggi or Sigga in the end anyway. So much for cool cache.
Don’t take our word for it: before naming your baby you’d be wise to look up Wikipedia’s full list of genuine Icelandic names for boys and girls. And you can check their meanings here. Good luck!
13 Comments
I think you mean Snjólaugur, not Snjólaukur. :) Or at least, I’ve never heard the latter at all…
Anyhow, my own favourites are Ástbjörn (not that I’d ever give that name to a child, but you gotta admit it’s smooth – Barry White’s got nothing on it!) and Þjóðólfur. ^^
I see, Icelandic nightclubbing is really all-in-one family planning service…
RE: Snjólaukur
I was trying to be cute.
It’s family planning, sex education, and a lesson in what-not-to-wear all rolled into one.
If Grettisgata is a common icelandic name
then brodway is a common name in new york
If a gay couple adopts a child, what would the baby’s last name be?
What if it’s a couple of lesbians that adopt the child?
In the case of adoption, the baby often maintains the name of the original father. Or, the new father could contribute his name. For gay and lesbian couples, they also have the option of giving the child a name derived from one of the parents or just choosing a new name for the child.
Confused?
My wife is expecting and I want to use an Icelandic name, but my wife doesn’t want it to sound too crazy.
I have found a few boys names that I think are good. Eirik, Gunnar, Ari, Hinrick, Dagur
Could you suggest a few names for boys/ girls that would work well for us?
We already have a daughter and her name is Emma. If you know of an Icelandic name that wouldn’t make her name seem out of place that would be great.
Thanks
I named my daughter Lóa (after my ‘sister’ from Iceland) although both her father and I are Dutch (no nightclub incident). I love the name! It does require some explaining and repeating here in the Netherlands but they all love it.
Astrid
what if youn don’t know for sure who the father is? ;-)
Svanvitt is the most fantastic name. Not sure about the spelling but to be called ‘white swan’ is a princess wearthy
Betty
What an awesome article. Great resources for some of my name info on my blog.
Emma can be a name in Iceland =)
here are the most popular names for boys in Iceland
http://www.statice.is/Pages/847
I think that Bjartur is a nice name, and with no Icelandic letters it should be easy to use outside of Iceland…you just have to explain the J…. and it will encourage him to be independent hehe
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