--- "Lodin Myklebust" wrote:

> Opinion 1
> Opinion 2

Both wrong. At least, if you are referring to ON/OI practice.

>>If you're married, you would be described as the wife of your
>>husband.

Nope.

>It would be a little insulting if you continued with your father's
>surname

There were no surnames, only patronymics, and occasional matronymics.
A woman was known by her father's FIRST name, not his last name,
which was simply HIS patronymic. Example: A man is named Gunnarr,
his son Njáll. Njáll has a daughter Sigrún, who is married to
Egill, whose father is Grímr. So we have these people:

Njáll Gunnarsson
Sigrún Njálsdóttir (not Gunnarsson)
Egill Grímsson

Sigrún will go on being Njálsdóttir, even after she is married
to Egill. She will never be called Sigrún Grímsson, and certainly
not Sigrún Egilsvíf. There were no surnames/family names. You
could not tell someone's family from their surname, only their
father's first name.

>> I was of the understanding that the tradition was for women to

take the mothers name...example...Helga Oglasdottir..meaning Helga
the daughter of Olga.

Nope. And she would be Olgudóttir. A matronymic was possible, but
only in rare cases, usually if the father's name was unknown.

>> I thought the whole point of surnames in that time period was to

determine what lineage you were from.

There were no surnames as such - your lineage could not be determined
from your "surname". All it showed was the first name of your father.

This practice has continued in Iceland until this day, and Icelandic
names are alphabetized by first name, not surname. For example, you
will find me in the "E" section of the Icelandic phone directory, not
the "B" section. The only other place in the world where this is
done is Twin Peaks. Really.

Hope this helped,
Eysteinn Bear's son