Matronymic Naming As A Choice
The vast majority of Icelandic surnames carry the name of the father, but occasionally the mother's name is used: e.g., in cases where the child or mother wishes to end social ties with the biological father. Some women use it as a social statement while others simply choose it as a matter of style. An Icelander whose father's identity is uncertain may also carry a matronymic name.
In all of these cases, the convention is the same: Ólafur, the son of Bryndís, will have the full name of Ólafur Bryndísarson ("the son of Bryndís"). One well-known Icelander with a matronymic name is football player Heiðar Helguson ("Helga's son"), another is novelist Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir ("Minerva's daughter"). One medieval example is the poet Eilífr Goðrúnarson ("Goðrún's son").
In the Icelandic film Bjarnfreðarson the title character's name is the subject of some mockery for his having a woman's name — as Bjarnfreður's son — not his father's. In the film this is connected to her radical feminism and shame over his paternity, which form part of the film's plot.
Some people have both a matronymic and a patronymic: for example, Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson ("the son of Bergþóra and Eggert"), a former mayor of Reykjavík.
Read more about this topic: Icelandic Name
Famous quotes containing the words naming and/or choice:
“The night is itself sleep
And what goes on in it, the naming of the wind,
Our notes to each other, always repeated, always the same.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“...there are important considerations in the world beyond plain sewing and teaching dull little boys the alphabet. Any woman who has brains and willing hands finds twenty remunerative occupations open to her where formerly she would have found merely the inevitable two—plain sewing, or the dull little boys. All she had to do is to make her choice and then buckle on her armor of perseverance, while the world applauds.”
—Clara (Marquise)