Matronymic Naming As A Choice
The vast majority of Icelandic surnames carry the name of the father, but occasionally the mother's name is used: e.g., in cases where the child or mother wishes to end social ties with the biological father. Some women use it as a social statement while others simply choose it as a matter of style. An Icelander whose father's identity is uncertain may also carry a matronymic name.
In all of these cases, the convention is the same: Ólafur, the son of Bryndís, will have the full name of Ólafur Bryndísarson ("the son of Bryndís"). One well-known Icelander with a matronymic name is football player Heiðar Helguson ("Helga's son"), another is novelist Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir ("Minerva's daughter"). One medieval example is the poet Eilífr Goðrúnarson ("Goðrún's son").
In the Icelandic film Bjarnfreðarson the title character's name is the subject of some mockery for his having a woman's name — as Bjarnfreður's son — not his father's. In the film this is connected to her radical feminism and shame over his paternity, which form part of the film's plot.
Some people have both a matronymic and a patronymic: for example, Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson ("the son of Bergþóra and Eggert"), a former mayor of Reykjavík.
Read more about this topic: Icelandic Name
Famous quotes containing the words naming and/or choice:
“See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament!
One drop would save my soul—half a drop! ah, my Christ!—
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ!—
Yet will I call on him!—O, spare me, Lucifer!—
Where is it now? ‘T is gone; and see where God
Stretcheth out his arm, and bends his ireful brows!—
Mountains and hills, come, come and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
—Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
“The question of place and climate is most closely related to the question of nutrition. Nobody is free to live everywhere; and whoever has to solve great problems that challenge all his strength actually has a very restricted choice in this matter. The influence of climate on our metabolism, its retardation, its acceleration, goes so far that a mistaken choice of place and climate can not only estrange a man from his task but can actually keep it from him: he never gets to see it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)