Language notes from the slopes of E-15.

[Jonathan Lighter]

I forgot. Icelanders by law have been required to bear a surname that
reflect their father's (rarely their mother's) given name. Women do not
change their surnames at marriage. Thus, "Jon Magnusson" must be the son of
Magnus somebody, and the daughter of Jon and his wife would be, say, "Gudrun
Jo'nsdottir," even if she married Olaf Olafsson.
Wacky, eh? In a spirit of sexual equality, some Icelanders now use surnames
based on the names of both parents: "Gudrun Jons-Grimursdottir," for
example. Am not sure of the precise legal status of current naming
practices, or whether they are closely enforced.

Thinking of becoming a citizen of Iceland?  Get ready to replace your
alien-sounding name with a new Icelandic one. It's the law. I am informed
that the accepted reason for the law was to keep innocent immigrant tots who
bore mirth-provoking furrin names from being ridiculed and tormented by
their cruel playmates. Resident aliens can keep their furrin names.

The system is somewhat more complicated than outlined above. Try
http://eng.domsmalaraduneyti.is/information/nr/125.

The Wikipedia article also appears to be informative:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name.



JL


On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Language notes from the slopes of E-15.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 10:52 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 7. A big ad for 66^North fashions, prominently displayed at Keflavik
> > Airport, telling passengers everywhere that
> >
> >      There are over 100 words for snow in Icelandic.
> >      Only one for what to wear.
>
> Now on Language Log:
>
> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2411
>
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