Iceland's Strict & Ancient Name Laws

support name explained on patreon for ad-free videos exclusive podcasts and blog posts and to help choose what names get explained click the link in the description from the simple given name and middle name surname convention we have here in the english speaking world to given names and family names being switched around in japanese to the many unique naming conventions that grace various native american tribes which yes i promise i'll make an entire video about in the future the way in which people are named really differs across the globe and one nation with an incredibly unique way of naming its citizens and a deep history and pride in names is of course iceland the conversation surrounding names in iceland has actually picked up quite significantly in recent years this includes controversies about what names can and can't be given to people in the nation and football fans noticing that all the players in the men's iceland team had surnames enough son during their victories in the 2016 european championships many articles and videos about the subject have already been created and now it's my turn to have a crack at it so today let's take a deep dive into the conventions and history of names in iceland and get a better understanding of how exactly people are named in this northern nation though before we really dive into names we just need to have a quick recap of the history of iceland and the icelantic language because by understanding the unique histories of the nation and tongue it helps give us an insight into their unique names and naming conventions iceland is very much a country created by european immigration much like the united states however unlike the usa it doesn't seem that there were any indigenous people to the land when european immigrants settled there the norsemen from norway and other parts of scandinavia are seen as the original settlers of iceland they got there in the 9th and 10th century a.d a man called inglefeur ardnason is commonly seen as the first norse settler of the nation however it would also seem that before the norse got there we have evidence of monks and religious figures from scotland settling there earlier there's conflicting evidence however as to whether they stayed or left once the norse got there perhaps in a different timeline perhaps in a different timeline iceland remained a scottish island and is still part of the uk to this day as more people from scandinavia and the viking world started to migrate to iceland their languages started to intermix and the language of icelandic as we have it today started to be created today icelandic is seen as a north germanic language along with the likes of norwegian swedish and danish though while these three languages are somewhat cross-compatible with one another icelandic is a far more unique language there are a couple reasons for this the main reason due to iceland being an insular island far removed from the rest of the north world things have a habit of becoming a bit more unique and different when left on an island and the icelantic language is a prime example of this though something else i read is that icelandic had another language influence it one i didn't expect it to that being the celtic language of ancient ireland irish arrived in iceland not through the best of circumstances that's for sure when vikings and norsemen migrated to iceland they would often stop in ireland to pick up women and slaves to bring to their new homes like i said it's really not the best way of introducing a language to a new part of the world but it gives icelandic a celtic influence other north germanic languages simply don't have over the years the other north germanic languages of scandinavia modernized and changed icelandic however has stayed somewhat unchanged it's seen by many as a very old language that is still in use i read it being described as the most conservative scandinavian language it still has things like three different genders a variety of cases for nouns and a complicated verb system that has changed very little over 1 000 or so years this means that modern icelanders can read ancient icelandic texts from the 12th century like the norse sagas and the poetic eddas with relative ease it's remarkable just how little language has changed especially when compared to say english try reading something written in english from the 16th century or so and it seems like a foreign tongue just ask any student studying shakespeare it was in the early 19th century that the icelantic started to realize just how special their language is since then actions have been taken to make sure icelandic carries on being unchanged or as unchanged as it possibly can be like an ancient relic being preserved in a museum in example the language did actually borrow words from other languages once upon a time words from languages such as latin and other roman languages were present in their vocabulary though these borrowed words have since been replaced with newly constructed words which use word elements from the icelantic language it's truly impressive and of course this protection of the icelantic language is also in effect when it comes to the names of icelantic people it seems that traditionally icelandic people have two names these names follow the western tradition of a given name coming first followed by a latin name that is dictated by family i read that middle names aren't too common in iceland and while children can be given other given names these are just seen as additional first names and not middle names i even read that many people give multiple names like this are known by all of these given names let's give a bit more focus to these first names first shall we that makes sense as iceland is a nation founded on immigration with a lack of natives it means that traditional icelandic names are products of immigration too many traditional icelandic names come from the languages of places like norway sweden and denmark though as mentioned with irish slaves being forced into the island it means there's a celtic influence on names too this means that many icelantic names are based on things such as geography like snylow meaning a snowpool norse mythologies also played a role in popular names and when christianity arrived in iceland in the early 11th century names relating to the religion became popular too most noticeably we have icelantic names like christine with the first part meaning christ or gulf life with the first part meaning god it seems that native icelantic names are a thing of recent creation this is when people use icelandic words to create brand new names in the language one example i read was stolemer which unsurprisingly means storm also something cooler read not so much relates to how names were created but how names are chosen i read of the ancient icelantic tradition of dream names in which babies are given names of someone who comes to the mud in a dream or she is pregnant i tried to think what kind of name my future kids would have if they were named after someone i saw in my dreams gender also plays a very prominent role in icelantic first names too this means that gender neutral names are far and few between in the language most names are used for just girls and just boys so what do you want a name that doesn't fit the assigned sex of your child or even a name that doesn't fit within the icelantic language perfectly well then you have the icelantic naming committee to go through this is exactly what it sounds like a committee of scholars lawyers and professors in the language that approve or deny new names being given to icelandic children when it comes to giving the green light on new names to enter the icelantic language they have three criteria they look out for the name cannot cause the named harm or difficulty boys must be named male names and girls must be named female names and then they must be able to follow icelandic grammar rules and adjustments this is all done primarily in an attempt to preserve the historic value of the icelantic language unsurprisingly this committee has faced its fair share of scrutiny and criticism over the years some even feel that having a committee as such goes against basic human rights and freedom of speech and expression notable examples of the committee coming under scrutiny including a 15 year old icelandic girl was told by the committee she wasn't allowed to be called at blair anymore due to it being a boy's name in 2013 and in 2014 harriet and duncan the children of a british father and icelantic mother were denied their names by the committee when they moved from the uk to iceland due to these names not fitting the grammar and structure of icelantic this meant that their passports had to be changed to simply read boy and girl their father in a wonderfully british manner declared the whole naming issue as really rather silly other names rejected include theo alex and zelda this regulation on names and whether it's a good or bad thing is a conversation we've had in the past and you guys are more than welcome to have it down in the comments of this video though if your name is approved by the committee then you're good to go if a name is rejected however due possibly to the fact it doesn't fit icelandic grammar or structure then there's two options really you can either abandon the name altogether or adapt the name so it complies with the icelantic language i'm no expert on the icelantic language but i read the big no no letters in the language a c q w and zed so getting rid of these letters from your name will help out in example if i were icelantic i would remove the c from my name and become a patrick though i also found it patrick as the icelantic adaptation of my name i'm sure there is more to it than just removing these letters from your name however if there's any icelanders watching this video please give myself and others a more comprehensive explanation of their authentic grammar please down in the comments below before we wrap up on talking about icelantic first names however the three most popular boys names are yon si guhu and gufmander and the three most popular girls names are gufflon anna and christian and just huge apologies about my icelandic pronunciation on this video while that's more or less everything on first names what about second names why are they so unique well the second names of many icelantic people aren't like the surnames we have here in english which run through a family the kind of second names we have in english are called surnames slash family names and while there's a tiny amount of these sorts of surnames in iceland by and large they don't exist instead most icelantic people have something called a patronomic last name these are second names that are usually created by taking your father's first name and by adding son or daughter to the end of their name for sons or daughters respectively this is why the entire iceland men's football team all had last names ending with sun because they're all the sons of their fathers it's very much the same case for the women's team too but with daughter instead of sun of course so in example if a man called alan had a son the boy's last name would be allenton well if alan had a daughter her last name would be alan dotter this means that families don't actually all share the same last name as they traditionally do here in the english-speaking world icelandic people don't even chase their names when they get married the only members of a family to share a last name usually are siblings of the same sex so all the sons of alan will have the last name alan's son and all his daughters will have the last name alan dotter this is the traditional way in which last names are created in iceland though what are traditions for if not for breaking in the past a mother's name was only used if the father had abandoned the family but now it seems more icelantic families are using the mother's name instead it's not only this however as it's becoming more acceptable for a child's last name to derive from the name of a step parent or foster parent too and more and more parents are using both their names in their child's last name so in example if anna and john were to have a son and daughter and give them both their names in their last names then the son would have the surname anna johnson and the daughter would have the surname anna yondotta sometimes extra word elements are used too to make these names more grammatically correct but i'm sure you get the idea by now and while these are the rules in iceland what happens when an outsider comes into play where did a rule stand would an icelantic person and a foreign person get married or have a child i read that if a child has one foreign parent then the child is allowed one for a name which does not fit icelandic naming traditions and if icelantic person marry someone not from the country of a foreign last name they're not allowed to take it as their last name they are however allowed to use their partner's last name as a new middle name so in example if an american called robert hamilton married an icelantic woman called anna eriksen she wouldn't change her name to anna hamilton but could change it to anna hamilton eriksen however robert hamilton would be allowed to become robert erickson the general idea seems to be the icelantic name has priority also i imagine these rules only apply to people if they are living in the nation if robert and anna were living in the states they could most likely follow the us naming laws and call themselves and their children whatever they want finally i want to end on some fun words unique to iceland that relate to names and these are words used by the atlantic when people have the same name if two women have the same first name they are nurtner and when two men have the same first name there nafna and when two women have the exact same first and last names they are alan neufner with the male version being ala nafna these are just some really fun words to wrap up our look into the unique ancient and somewhat controversial naming traditions of iceland thank you to all my patrons who support name explain on a monthly basis patreon is vital to name explain and donating just two dollars a month allows you to enjoy ad-free videos and bonus patron exclusive content it also allows you to help choose what names get explained in upcoming videos and it gets your name here with all these awesome people thank you so much for all the support you guys give name explain hello all and thank you so much reaching the end of the video check out another video and subscribe to stay in the loop on all things name explain you can find me on twitter i'm at name explain yt on instagram i'm also named explain yt and on facebook just search name explain anyway i hope you enjoyed this video and once again thank you all so much

Channel: Name Explain

Views: 361,834

Keywords: iceland names, iceland name rules, etymology, language, educational video, name explain, word origins

Id: sXU6vex4dus

Length: 14min 4sec (844 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2020