Icelandic Woman allowed to name herself 'woman' but only after a legal battle

[RedToothBrush]

And of course the name 'man' was just fine without needing to do that...

grapevine.is/news/2021/08/23/woman-at-last-permitted-to-name-herself-woman/

In Iceland you are only allowed to use approved names from a list, which is set by the naming committee.

Elín Kona Eddudóttir first got the idea to submit the request for the middle name after reading a news story from 2019 about another woman trying to get the same middle name, but being rejected.

The grounds for the rejection, in the reasoning of the Naming Committee, was that it could potentially be damaging for a child to be given this name, and invite bullying. Interestingly, both Karl and Drengur, which mean “man” and “boy” respectively, are still considered perfectly valid names.

This system, and the last name construction rules which go "mother's first name + daughter for a female child; father's first name + son for a male" must make it especially challenging for Icelanders to identify as trans.

And you can see how they want to keep control of the wilder sort of first name choices often seen in other counties when they are going to pop up as surnames in future generations!

Last names, sorry! Surname is a bit sexist, though it's generally how they function in English-speaking societies.

Surname is a bit sexist, though it's generally how they function in English-speaking societies.

Eh?

Are you thinking some connection with "sir" or "sire"? I don't think so.

Checking references, as I suspected, it's a collapsed "super-" prefix (meaning above/over).

www.oed.com/oed2/00243136

Although if surcharges can be prevented by calling them sexist, then maybe you're onto something.

I was thinking sire, Necessary, but they are patriarchal, if not sexist, because they are traditionally and conventionally taken from the father. Now, you never know who was really whose father in the past, but you generally know who was whose mother, so I always thought it would be interesting to trace the maternal lines back and collect all the different names. I got stuck just two generations back because my grandmother seems to have been illegitimate and her origins are shorouded in mystery, though.

I am entranced by the equality of the Icelandic system, though it must be weird for sister and brother to have differentlast names.

Icelandic names take the father's name, usually, and add 'son' or 'dottir'. Very occasionally a mother's name is used, but it's not common.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name

Phone book is organised by first name instead of surname.

@ArabellaScott

Phone book is organised by first name instead of surname.

That's because Icelandic people don't have surnames. It is a patronymic or matronymic reference instead.

They are correctly addressed by first name hence eg Björk

Many, many years ago I came across someone in a work database with an Icelandic male first name and the female surname, think something like Olaf Halldorsdottir (not the actual name) and I was dying to know the story behind it. Was he the son of an Icelandic single mum? I never found out.

That, Betty, could be a case similar to Sally Magnusson who in Iceland would be Sally Magnusdottir, on account of ger dad's given name.

I believe one of the non binary duo Ugla Stefania is Icelandic and has a last name ending in '-dottir'. Rather amusing that - being an enby yet still a daughter.