they're true patronyms.
 
A woman named Hildur Gísladóttir could have a father named Gísli Traustason, and a mother named Sigrún Jóhannsdóttir, her grandfathers would thus be Trausti and Jóhann, her brother might be named Guðmundur Gíslason, so, you see, she, her brother, their father and mother each have a different 'surname', and names don't change for any reason (like they do with marriage where family-names are used). It can be quite irksome for an icelandic family to travel to the USA.. they tend not to like that the familymembers all have different surnames (*sigh* it's very bothersome to try and get those square-headed customs-people to understand this naming tradition).
 
However, I think there's another sort of difference between this tradition and yours. Being that you would identify more strongly with your surname than we do, or at least I have always tended to think of my patronym less as my name, and more as a categorizing tag. Like, "oh, Berglaug daughter of Ásmundur, not Eiríks girl!" (and i would never respond if someone adressed me by my patronym, i'd simply not realize they were talking to me) Don't know if that's just me, but we do alphabetize people by given name first, not by patronyms. (any thoughts, you icelanders (hrmhrm Haukur!) on this list?)
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerald Mcharg
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 9:26 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Jed re Berglaug's 'Lord's Prayer

Berglaug
Many thanks. Because Icelandic is renowned as being conservative (linguistically), I am prepared to risk using your modern version if I can't get hold of an Old Icelandic copy.
There is another question which may be of interest to others as well as myself. Part of my course will show how in English, surnames came to take the place of patronymics because of the exponential rise in population. But Iceland has never to my knowledge had a population explosion to compare with it. What system operates in Iceland. Do all girls (and boys) take the names of their fathers so that there is a different patronymic in every generation or is your last name truly a surname? I've wondered about this on and off for years.
I think the retention of 'dottir' in last names is wonderful. I would love it if my own daughter were called Meg Jedardottir instead of Mc Harg.
Once again, thanks very much.
Cheers
Jed


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