Re: Njáls Saga and Icelandic Genealogy

From: Haukur Thorgeirsson
Message: 5173
Date: 2005-04-17

Hinn 17. apríl 2005 lét AThompson þetta frá sér fara:
> I see that the members of Sigur Rós list a number after their names on one
> of their CDs. Eg 230475-4749. Is that what a kennitala normally looks
> like?

Yes. We can break it down to get information out of it.
The first 6 letters and the last letter encode the persons's
date of birth. This one is born on the 23rd of April 1975.
The 7th and 8th letters are arbitrary. The 9th letter is a
parity letter for the first eight. (I don't remember the formula,
something about mod 11). I think the last letter is not parity
checked and it's illogically placed at the end instead of with
the other date-encoding ones. I suppose it was added as an
afterthought (2000 problem, anyone?).

You'll have a hard time doing as much as renting a movie in
Iceland without a kennitala.

Kveðja,
Haukur - 140780-4489

P.S. Hey, and Robert James Fischer recently became Mr. 090343-2039
and was very glad for it too.

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