Comments:

1. 

    

   Frode Leidulv Ødegård:

   Dear Hulda,

   I so enjoy your blog posts and videos. Amazing job! I have been trying to teach myself Icelandic off and on, but it has been slow going. 🙂

   As for my name, I was born in Norway and my name is very, very Norwegian. My father has the same middle name and last name, and his first name is Bjarne.

   I figure my last name would be Bjarnason in Iceland. And Frode would be like the Old Norse version, Fróði?

   Not sure what to do with my middle name and last name, though.
   Leiðólfur?

   So Fróði Leiðólfur Bjarnason?

   But that leaves out my Norwegian last name, which has been the family name going back to the black death, when a lot of families repopulated estates/farms that had been left desolate due to the plague. Øde is Auði or some such, right? Placing the Icelandic translation of Ødegård at the end would give me FOUR names, and I don’t think I have ever seen that in use.

   Ok, that’s as far as I can get on my own 🙂

   Hjálp!

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Frode Leidulv Ødegård Fróði Leiðólfur would indeed be the closest match. However, while Fróði is still in use, Leiðólfur has completely disappeared and is listed as an ancient name. It may even be that your second name would have been Leifur instead, due to its much larger popularity. Therefore the possible combinations of your name would have been:

     Fróði Leiðólfur Bjarnarson/Björnsson
     Fróði Leifur Bjarnarson/Björnsson
     Fróði Leiðólfur Ødegård (your last name, thankfully, would not have been translated)
     Fróði Leifur Ødegård

     Fróði: the name is ancient, the first mention can be found in Medieval sagas. It disappeared from use for hundreds of years but has made a strong comeback: 1st Jan 2008 there were 36 men with Fróði as first name and 17 as the second. The meaning of the name is “wise, knowledgeable”.

     Leiðólfur: the name’s origins are unknown, but the first part (leið-) hints to traveling.

     Leifur: another ancient name, the first European who found America was called Leifur heppni (= the lucky) Eiríksson. There are currently over 250 Leifurs in Iceland! The meaning behind the name is most likely “heir, descendant”.

     • 

        

       Andraste:

       @hulda Would Andraste be considered as a Icelandic name?

       • 

          

         hulda:

         @Andraste Alas, no, it doesn’t sound very Icelandic… Dragon Age is awesome though! *high five*

2. 

    

   Liv:

   Hekel is not a common word in norwegian, I had to look it up. It is not in the bokmål list, but is in nynorsk listed as 1. ytterkant, snipp (outer edge) 2. Høg, grann kar, langt menneske med dårlig kroppsburd (Tall, skinny man). The second I can relate to a little bit, the first meaning means nothing to me.

3. 

    

   Liv:

   My name is Liv Ellen 🙂

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Liv Thank you so much for the help! Now it makes a lot more sense.

     Your Icelandic name would probably have been Líf Ellen. Sorry to be so boring, but there seems to be a near identical match for both of your names!

     Líf: the name is somewhat young in Icelandic: the first definite notion of it comes from after the year 1940. The interesting thing about the name Líf is that in Iceland is way more popular as a second name than the first – 23 first name Lífs vs. 531 second name Lífs.
     Líf is, apparently, also a name of a mythological creature/person of legend that will survive Ragnarök, which the meaning of the name – to live – hints at. Another meaning behind the name is “shield” (Hlíf).

     Ellen/Helena: Ellen comes from the name Helena, or the Nordic version of Helena which is Elín. It’s more popular as a first name than the second, so if you were born and named now chances are your name would actually be Ellen Líf! 😀

     • 

        

       Liv:

       @hulda Þetta er svo áhugavert, þakka þér!

       • 

          

         Liv:

         @Liv Also, my last name is Aasen (pronounced Åsen), which is a farm name, suggesting a farm is located on a hill. But my fathers name is Olve, which I have been told is an old name mentioned in Snorre. How would that be in icelandic? In norwegian it would be Olvesdatter, but it wouldn’t have an s in Icelandic I think?

         • 

            

           hulda:

           @Liv I’m guessing the name would be Ölver in Icelandic. It would definitely be old enough to fit your description; in Scandinavia this name exists in forms such as Alvir, Aulir and Olver. It has two ways of spelling, Ölver and Ölvir, so if your family was Icelandic you’d either be Ölversdóttir or Ölvisdóttir, depending on which way his name was spelled. 😀

4. 

    

   Carter:

   Hæ Hulda,

   I have really enjoyed you last few posts! I have been revisiting some of your slightly older ones on declensions as of late. Thank you for sharing so many wonderful tips and tricks, as well as your own experiences. Your blog is a truly unique resource!

   My name is Carter Stewart and I have always wondered what the approximation may be in Icelandic. The origin of my name is a simple middle English “one who carts/makes carts”. My family name is rooted in the Scot Gaelic “Stuart”.

   On my own I really cannot find any accurate way that my name would decline.

   I hope you are still enjoying a lovely summer!

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Carter Well hello again, always happy to see you here!

     You threw us a difficult one. 😀 I’ve just consulted the book and TWO Icelanders, and a fact is that there is no one name that would immediately answer to Carter. However, this situation would have meant that you’re left with several options to choose from such as Karl, Kári or Kjartan for example.

     Karl: a very old name, stems all the way back to the time when groups of Norwegians arrived to Iceland and settled it. The name is wildly popular with over 900 men with it as first and almost as many having it as a second name. The meaning of the name is “free man, full grown man”.

     Kári: another old one: perhaps the most known man to bear this name was Kári Sölmundarson who is written about in Njáll’s saga. He alone both avenges the deaths of the Njálssons and eventually brings the whole blood feud to an end by refusing to kill his opponent. Currently there are roughly 900 Káris in Iceland, the name being equally popular as first and last name. The meaning is “curly-haired man”.

     Kjartan: one of the most loved saga heroes is no doubt Kjartan Ólafsson of Laxdæla saga which coincidentally includes one of the bloodiest love triangles of Icelandic history. This name is almost always the first name, rarely the second. Alas, Nöfn Íslendinga gives no note on what the name means.

     As surnames were not translated Stewart would have stayed the way it is. However, for a person with a first name Steward the name Sturla is the closest choice! It means “warrior, war bringer”. 😀

     • 

        

       Carter:

       @hulda Vá! Thanks for going to the trouble to ask two Icelanders, and for all the history and etymology!

       I honestly think if I were to emigrate I would go with Kjartan, as it just rings in my ear. Even if we don’t know where it originally comes from. I will, however, go re-read the Saga!

       I really am enjoying this post, especially against he backdrop of all the recent news about the Alþjóðasetur and some of its decisions. Wasn’t there a young lady who was already in her teens with an interesting name that equated to a “a calm breeze” this past year? It is also nice seeing all the others Q & A as well!

       Takk fyrir!

       • 

          

         hulda:

         @Carter Yes, that’s indeed the same Blær I mentioned in the post. What’s stranger is that the name Blær is marked as both male and female in Nöfn Íslendinga and this print of the book is from the year 2011 (the book even notes the difference in declension between the male and the female Blær). Yet it took until 2013 before she became Blær officially. :S?

     • 

        

       Clive:

       @hulda Alas, you say,Nöfn Íslendinga gives no note on what the name means. It was the name of the son of Olaf the Peacock, whose mother was Irish, and the name comes from the Irish “Muircheartach”, meaning mariner. It’s what I wanted to call my son, but my wife wouldn’t let me, so he became Atli instead.

5. 

    

   Larissa:

   Hi, Hulda-

   The Icelandic name that many Icelanders seem to hear when I introduce myself (as Larissa) is Lovísa. Anything closer than that in the book?

   • 

      

     Larissa:

     @Larissa And if not, can you tell me what Lovísa means?

     • 

        

       hulda:

       @Larissa Hi, nice to meet you! You have another challenging name, so we’re going to have to go with names that begin with an L, have three syllables and an A at the end.

       Larsína: there’s only one known Larsína in the whole history of Icelandic names and nowadays the name has completely disappeared from use.

       Another name, also unusual by Icelandic standards, is Lalíla. An interesting fact is that almost all known Lalílas had the first name Lilja – Lilja Lalíla!

       Láretta: a borrowed name, likely Italian in origin, stems from Laurentia.

       Liljurós: this one is different from the others in that it ends with an S, but it does kind of match with Larissa. The form is unusual – this name is usually spelled Liljurósa – and there has only been one girl who has ever had this name. The meaning of the name is “lily rose” and it symbolizes virgin Mary.

       Lovísa: this name has enjoyed steady popularity ever since the beginning of the 1900’s. It’s an Icelandic version of the French name Louise.

       With an unusual name like yours, one solution is just to pick a name that you like best. In that case there’s also Laufey, “leaf island”. The most famous one bearing this name must have been the mother of the trickster god Loki Laufeyjarson!

6. 

    

   Malia:

   This is a very interesting post, I’m torn between appreciating the aims of name restrictions but also they seem very harsh sometimes. I think my name would be the same in Icelandic, but can you help with my daughters’ names: Samantha and Morag?

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Malia Hi! You’re right about your own name being in the Nöfn Íslendinga: it lists Malía as possibly a Hawaiian version of the name “Mary”.

     For Samantha I’d suggest Snæbirna. It’s a very rare name though, there has been only one girl by this name since the early 1900’s. The name is made of the parts snæ (= snow) and birna (= female bear) – “snow bearess”. Another possibility would be Sóllilja, “sun lily”.

     For Morag the first that comes to mind is Margrét, which is an Icelandic form of Margot or Margarita. Marveig (= “sea power”) could also come to question, although again it’s one of those names that have been documented only once. 🙂

7. 

    

   Dean Wallace:

   Fascinating post! I knew Iceland had a patronymic naming system, but I didn’t know any of this.

   What would my name be out of interest? ‘Dean Wallace’ might be a bit annoying to translate. It’s approximately pronounced as /’di:n ‘wa:lıs/

   Thanks! :]

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Dean Wallace I’m glad you liked it – Iceland is full of surprises! 😀

     Dean would pair best with Diðrik, although you do gain an extra syllable to your name there. It’s a name that’s always been somewhat rare, but there’s always been a few dozen Diðriks in Iceland. A similar name in Germany would be Dietrich. It’s made of components that separately mean “land”, “people” and “to rule over”. Or possibly Dýri, another one of those Medieval names that have survived to this day. The origin of it is a little unclear but it may mean “mighty” or “beast”. 😀

     Your second name has an exact match, Valves. It’s literally an Icelandic version of Wallace!

     Or you might choose, f.ex. Valbjörn. The Val- beginning can stem from two different origins, one of which means “a choice, a decision” and the other “dead body on a battlefield, a man who’s died by a weapon”. The latter may sound gruesome but this is an old name, and once there was no bigger honour for a man than to die in battle. -Björn means “(male) bear”.

     Or Valgeir? Same beginning, but the -geir ending means “spear”. Er, my apologies, it looks like your possible second name is turning rather grim in the meaning! 😀

     • 

        

       Dean Wallace:

       @hulda Haha! I now have an Icelandic alter ego. I’ll start fighting crime or something. 😛

       Thanks a lot! Er… I mean… þakka þér mjög kærlega! 🙂

8. 

    

   Corin:

   Hæ Hulda,
   Sæl og blessuð,

   My first two names are Corin Eric – i guess the middle name, my fathers, is a no brainer: Eirík(?) and had I been born in Iceland I would be: … Eiríksson? What would Corin be? Apperently it means “spear” or “spear-bearer”

   Also, I have a question about the use of með, should you have time to help. In advance, please forgive all errors.
   I believe from my book learning that the (vera)með construction is used in cases where one has something on their person (is with it, is carrying it), but the statement doesn’t provide information about ownership. t.d. Spjóti er með skæri (þólfall as the scissors have no choice as to whether they’re with me??!!) – the scissors may belong to me, or may not. Hopefully i got that sort of right.
   So my question is regarding something like a beard or, particuarly, an unborn baby that a person can carry on them, but ownership is implied, even though there are circumstances where a person could carry another’s child, or (detached) beard!!
   Can i write sensibly: “Spjóti er með skegg” or “Hun er með barn” (again, þólfall?), as in the somewhat archaic english “She is with child”.

   Þakka þer kærlega fyrir

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Corin Sæll og blessaður! 😀

     I’d go for Kolur Eiríkur or Kolgrímur Eiríkur as your most likely Icelandic names. Kol- beginning means “coal”, and in Kolur it has the meaning “darkhaired man”. Kolgrímur is put together of the same beginning but with -grímur ending, which means “mask” but may once have been one of Óðinn’s names (due to his habit of concealing his real identity when walking around the human world). Eiríkur means “very mighty” and is one of those classic names that have always been super popular – current amount of Eiríkurs is well over 600. Kolur and Kolgrímur are rarer, with less than ten children having received the names in 2008.

     It’s true that vera með does not provide any information on real ownership, it just states that someone is carrying something with them. It’s perfectly fine to say “Hann er með skegg” but as such it does not tell you whether the beard is a real or a fake one, on his face or in his pocket. If you wanted to define that it’s a fake beard you could always call it “gerviskegg” instead.

     “Hún er með barn” is also correct, but it means that the woman in question has a child with her. However, if she’s pregnant you’d say “hún er með barni”. It’s a bit difficult to explain what makes this difference, but you can compare it to the sentence “hún er með manni”. That means that she’s accompanied by a man. If you say “hún er með mann” you’re hinting that she’s bringing a man along, possibly providing a servant. Of course children are commonly brought along, carried etc. so the meaning is subtly different than with a woman maneuvering a grown man around… 😀

9. 

    

   Alicia:

   What great timing, I was just trying to look this up myself. I think my first name is actually a distant relative of an Old Norse or Icelandic name. Going backwards, Alicia is the Latinized version of Alice, which is the French version of Ethel, which is a diminutive of Adelheid, which is the Germanic version of Aðalheiður. Did I do that right, and if so what would my nickname be?

   My father’s name was Dale, as a word I’m pretty sure the Icelandic equivalent is dalur but I don’t think that’s considered a name. Any suggestions for a patronymic? Thanks!

   • 

      

     hulda:

     @Alicia That’s absolutely correct: the origin of Alice lies in Aðalheiður. To add more to this evolution of the name Iceland also knows a name Alís, which comes from – yes – Alice. Full circle!

     Aðalheiður is one of those names that seems to have more or less lost popularity for hundreds of years before making a strong comeback: in 2008 587 women bore the name. It’s put together with “aðal” (= noble, aristocrat) and “heiður” (= honor, rank / bright). If your name was Aðalheiður your nickname would be Heiða.

     There are some Icelandic names that have Dal- beginning, hmm… perhaps Dalvin? It seems to be made of the words “valley” and “friend”. It would make your patronymic Dalvinsdóttir. There’s also Dalmann that has the same dal-beginning but an ending which means “man” – then the patronymic would be Dalmannsdóttir.

10. 

     

    Jennie Kordenat:

    Hello,
    I too have enjoyed this great post of yours. I’m not sure what my first name (Jennie) would be but my last name might be Jansdottir? My fathers name is Jan. I want to learn Icelandic but seem to be struggling. I suppose my 1/4 Icelandic heritage doesn’t help me out, since us Americans seem to be a bit behind on learning other languages. Thanks for the great story and for offering to humor us with a possible Icelandic alter ego.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Jennie Kordenat Hi, I’m happy that people have found this post so interesting because I’m having a great time with trying to match their names with Icelandic ones!

      There’s an almost exact match for Jennie in Icelandic, Jenny/Jenný. It’s pronounced differently from Jennie in that the first J is pronounced like a Y. Originally it was a pet name for Jean/Jana, nowadays it’s a shortened version of Jennifer. Just be careful not to spell it Jenni – then it becomes a man’s name (there is no difference in pronunciation though). You might also go with Jenney (“Jenný” + “island”) if you’d like a more typically Icelandic ending to the name.

      Another possibility is to change the “Je”-beginning to “Jó” and go for another kind of a pronunciation match: Jódís/Jófríður. This name is ancient (gets a mention is f.ex. Njáll’s saga) and comes from the words “jór” (= horse) and “dís” (= goddess, godly being), or in the case of the latter one the ending “fríður” means beautiful.

      Although the name Jan exists at the moment in Iceland, the more typical way your patronymic would have been made is Jónsdóttir. This is mostly because of how rare the name Jan is in comparison to Jón (both names stem from the same root).

      Icelandic is a difficult language to learn indeed! If it’s any consolation my grandmother was from Karelia, yet I struggle with even the Karelian dialect of Finnish! So I don’t think it’s about anyone’s nationality, rather the comparative difficulty of learning certain languages (Icelandic ranks easily among the most difficult languages to learn) vs. the so-called “easy” ones. Even Icelanders occasionally have trouble with Icelandic. 🙂

11. 

     

    R:

    Hi!

    I really enjoyed reading this entry, you know. It’s really interesting.

    I have absolutely no idea of what my names would be and I love everything Iceland related so can you help me? My first name’s Romina and my middle name’s Paz.

    Thank you for this entry and I’ll sure check the others.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @R Hi and thank you! I’m glad you liked it.

      Romina has one really close match Rómana, but in all history tehre seems to have been only one Rómana in Iceland (baptized 1817 in Gullbringusysla) so perhaps it’s an unlikely option. This name means “a person of Rome” and stems from the Latin name Romanus.

      Other options would be f.ex. Róshildur (“rós” = rose, “hildur” = battle) or even Ragnheiður (“ragn” = decision/godly power, “heiður” = honor, rank, noble).

      Paz is another challenging name to match, since one-syllable female names are extremely rare in Icelandic. I could suggest Pálrún which is put together of the words Páll (= Paul) and rún (= rune) or Perla, that simply means a pearl. Perla is far more popular of the two, and although it’s more common to have Perla as your first name it has appeared often as the second name as well. Ragnheiður Perla?

      • 

         

        R:

        @hulda Oh, thank you! Like it (:

        I’d also like to know how difficult it’ll be to learn Icelandic for a Spanish speaker… do you have any idea?

        And I’ve got another question (I’m sorry if I bother you).
        Do you know of a WEB where I can write the word and hear how it’s spell? I found this one: http://www.ivona.com/us/, but I don’t know how accurate it is.

        I’ve been reading some other entries and they’re so interesting. Thank you!
        I hope I can travel to Iceland some day to have such amazing experiences.

        • 

           

          hulda:

          @R Welcome to visit any time you like! 😀

          I would guess that for a Spanish speaker the difficulties of Icelandic are in the grammar. I can ask my Spanish-speaking classmates their opinion if you like. 🙂 However, if you have prior knowledge of other Germanic and especially Scandinavian languages that will always help you greatly.

          As for the other question, I listened to both of the Icelandic sample voices and both of them, Karl and Dóra, sound very accurate!

          • 

             

            R:

            @hulda Oh, yes please! Ask your Spanish-speaking classmates. I’d love to have an idea of how difficult it could be. Well, it also depends on the person… I hope I’m good enough to learn Icelandic.

            Really? That’s cool. I always want to know how are some words spell.

            You’re being so nice at answering all of my questions.

12. 

     

    Fionn Slattery:

    Hey there!

    I’m learning Icelandic at the moment and this post really interested me. I’m just wondering what my name would be?

    Fionn is a very Irish name, along with Slattery.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Fionn Slattery Hi, and welcome to both learning Icelandic and to this blog!

      For Fionna I would suggest a name that begins with Finn- such as Finndís, Finnlaug or Finnþóra. The Finn- beginning means a Finn. 😀 A Finn as in a Finnish person (I have no idea how we’ve managed to worm ourselves into the Icelandic name lists!). -Dís ending means a goddess, -laug is a bath or a hot spring and -þóra is the same as Þór, or Thor, just a feminine version of the name of the thunder god.

      Is Slattery your family name? If, then it would not have been changed, unless you wanted to have an Icelandic surname instead in which case they would have found an Icelandic version for your father’s or mother’s name and made you a patro- or matronymic name based on that. 🙂

13. 

     

    Jean Wolfgang:

    Thanks for the cool post on names and all the other ones. They are very helpful. And I would say to those who are just starting on Icelandic that they should persevere. I’ve been struggling with it on my own for a little over a year, and it is starting to get better, finally, slowly….

    I was thinking that if I “Icelandicized” my name I would be stuck with Jóna, which is pretty much a direct translation, but there must be “Jóna”s all over the place. So are there other options? My name in English is pronounced to rhyme with “green”, not the French way, and I am a woman. The possibilities you have given other people make me hope that I might not be stuck with Jóna. My last name is German, of course, and would mean something like “path of the wolf” or “trail of the wolf”, though, as you said, that doesn’t have to get translated or Icelandicized.

    Takk fyrir.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Jean Wolfgang Thank you, I’m glad! Indeed, learning Icelandic tends to happen that way: at first nothing seems to work and everything feels illogical, there are way too many declensions and genders to choose from in a hurry, the sentence structure feels, to put it plainly, weird. But there will be that moment when it will start to make more sense… and more, and more.

      Your guess on Jóna is probably right: it’s such a popular, common name that no doubt you would have been suggested it at least once. But it doesn’t have to be the only option.

      Your Icelandic name could also have begun with an I, Í or Y because of the way your name is pronounced. Names that might work are f.ex. Iðunn (= a Norse goddess who owned the golden apples of youth that kept the Æsir eternally young), Íma (= battle, although it can be mistaken to mean ‘dusty’…) or Ylfa (= wolf)(not a very common name but it’s making a comeback). Of these Iðunn is closest in pronunciation, but Ylfa would hint at your family name. 🙂

14. 

     

    mauro:

    My first name is Mauro (which means “dark-skinned man) and my second name is Esteban (which in otger languages is Stefan or Steven) I suppose my Icelandic surname would be Karlsson since my father’s name is Carlos or Karl. Anyway, I would like to know my complete name in Icelandic
    greetings from Argantina
    🙂

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @mauro Hello and welcome! 🙂

      Your first name has two options: Márus, which has the old meaning “Mauritanian”. The name is rare, but still in use. The other option would be Már (= seagull), yet another one of those Medieval names that are still in use.

      Esteban would pair well with Stefán, which is the Icelandic version of Stefan. This name is one of those that are equally popular through the history of all the Nordic countries. Another name that’s considerable is Steinar (steinn = rock, -ar ending can hint at army or spears according to Nöfn Íslendinga).

      However, at this point we come across the same curious problem as with Liv Ellen: to an Icelander some names sound much better as second names, and Már is one of those. So if you were now given a name in Iceland, you could well become Stefán/Steinar Már! 😀

15. 

     

    Kurt Messick:

    Hi – thanks for your site. I would be happy to know what my Icelandic name would likely be. I travel to Iceland regularly (I will be there in November and again in December this year) and would be happy to begin to pick up language traits and cultural elements. 🙂

    k+

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Kurt Messick Hello, I’m happy you like it! 🙂

      Let’s see: Kurt could become f.ex. Kort, Kolur, Karl or Kár. Of these Kort comes from Denmark and stems from the name Konrad. Kolur (= dark haired man) almost disappeared once already but has in the recent years made a comeback. Karl means technically speaking “man”, but used to have an added meaning of “a free man”. It’s pronounced very similarly to Kurt because the Icelanders add a small “t”-sound before the “l”! Kár is the same root as Kári, meaning “a man with curly hair”.

16. 

     

    Shoni Lavie:

    Great website; I’d be very happy if you would give me my icelandic name :D!

    Mine is tricky as it’s not an English, Germanic, or even European name – it’s a Hebrew word that is only rarely used for a name and means ‘difference’. Lavie comes from my Israeli mother and I think that the word for lion or lion cub in hebrew is something similar to it. Note that ‘Lavie’ is transliterated so the ‘french looking’ spelling doesn’t necessarily indicate that it’s french.

    I suppose there are two routes to go down here: literally translating them, or trying to find namse that sound like them!!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Shoni Lavie No problem, I find this a great fun! 🙂

      The typical way of finding the name you would have had to change your to is by following what sounds most like it, so let’s look at that first:

      The closest names I could find were either Sóley or Sólný. Both share the Sól (= sun) beginning, whereas -ey means an island and ný means new. Sóley is also a name of a flower – Iceland’s national flower is a holtasóley! Of these two names Sóley is by far more common, and older, Sólný is comparatively new as a name.

      Lavie is a bit more difficult to pair up, but let’s try: it could f.ex. becomes Laufey (lauf = leaf, ey = island) or Léona, which is a feminine version of a name that means lion and would follow the other possibility, taking the meaning of your name into accord. Laufey is more commonly used as a first name than second name, so if paired with a name such as Sóley and Sólný that have about fifty-fifty popularity for a first/second name, they might sound more natural as Laufey Sóley/Sólný.

17. 

     

    Marjit:

    My name is Marjit (Norwegian) 😀

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Marjit Margrét comes to mind immediately, perhaps because it’s a popular name. It stems from the name Margot/Margarita.

      If you’d prefer going full Icelandic, Mardís or Marey could also work (mar = sea, dís = goddess, ey = island). The first one is very rare but still in use. The latter one is less common than Margrét and also much younger, the first sign of the name appearing in 1910. Currently there’s only a few dozen Mareys in Iceland, and the name seems to enjoy equal popularity as a first or a second name.

18. 

     

    sylvia:

    Hi Hulda
    My name comes from the latin and it means “from the forest”, my father’s name is also a Spanish name Salvador which means “saviour”.
    I would love to know my icelandic name.
    My daughter already has an icelandic name but I would lite tony know if it’s common. Her name is Isey.
    And finally my partner’s name is Vicente it means “conquering” and as we don use the C in icelandic he really needs to get a new name 🙂

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @sylvia Your name has an exact match in Icelandic, Sylvía or Silvía. It comes from the same root as your name, obviously, so the meaning is the same. However, I find this sort of an answer always a little bit disappointing, so I also like to find out possible Icelandic options – in this case names Sólfríður, Sóllilja and Sæfríður might be possible matches, mostly by the syllable count and the general sound of the names. Sól = sun, fríður = beautiful, lilja = lily and sæ = sea. Sólfríður and Sæfríður are very rare names, with only a handful of women with those names. Sóllilja is rare too although a touch more common – but it’s usually used as a second name, most often in combination Ásta Sóllilja after a character in Halldór Laxness’ Independent People.

      Your dad’s name would probably have become Sæmundur. Sæ = sea, mundur = protection. The most famous person by this name was Sæmundur fróði Sigfússon, a priest who was said to be smart enough to fool the devil himself several times. His statue stands in front of the University of Iceland.

      Ísey is a rare name although currently in use. The book says that in the year 2008 13 women were given this name.

      For Vicente I could suggest Vigsteinn – vig = battle, steinn = stone. Thi is also a rare name and somewhat new, since there’s no mention of it before the year 1940. (There has also been a handful of people bearing the name Vincent, but it’s only appeared once in Sturlunga saga and later as a foreigner’s name – plus it has the letter “c” so it’s no longer an option.)

19. 

     

    Kristin Nicole:

    Great read! If you’re still up for handing out Icelandic names, I’ve got some fun ones for you. I am guessing my boring old name would probably be the same (although I know nothing about what would happen to Nicole). My father’s name is Michael, so I am wondering what my last name “could have been”.
    Now for the fun, my husband is from India and his name is Vineet (although properly pronounced it sounds more like Vineeth– not lispy, but it should end with the tongue on the back of the upper teeth). It means unassuming/humble/knowledgeable/modest. His father’s name is Lalit, which means beautiful/charming. I would be very interested to find out what his full Icelandic name would be!
    Also, our daughter’s name is Anastasia, so I would be curious to see what that would be. Her middle name is Katarina, which I believe would stay the same.
    And to recap, if we move to Iceland, not only would we not have to change, but any children born there we could name whatever we pleased? Although I think I would like changing to the patronymic system. I think it’s so beautiful and friendly.
    I am curious though, because I heard it was possible to have 2 last names, one for each parent: Is this allowed? Unpopular, or what are the general feelings about this?

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Kristin Nicole You would not be required to change your existing names but any child born in Iceland would have to be named according to the Icelandic naming laws. This means that you could only choose an Icelandic name or a foreign one that works with Icelandic declension system. You would also have to write the name phonetically “correct”, which basically means adding accents over vowels. 😀

      To my knowledge a person can only have one last name, but it’s possible to change it f.ex. from patronymic to matronymic.

      Now let’s look at your names:

      There indeed is an exact match for Kristin, but it would be spelled Krístin, with an accent over the i. For Nicole there’s the Icelandic equivalent Nikólína, but this name is so old it’s almost completely fallen out of usage. Pairing it out with an Icelandic name was quite difficult, but there could be the name Náttsól that would work (nátt = night, sól = sun) because it has the same amount of syllables in pronunciation and begins and ends with the same sounds.

      Your family name would not have been changed – only Icelanders have patronymics. 🙂 However, your dad could f.ex. have taken the name Margeir (mar = sea, geir = spear).

      Vineet is quite a difficult one too, naturally. The closest I can think of is Vinfús (vin = friend, fús = willing). The meanings behind the name would actually also make a close match with his real name. Lalit could become f.ex. Logi (logi = fire). I’m afraid it means nothing like his real name, but as mentioned in the article, names were chosen by their sound rather than meaning: to find a similar name with similar meaning is a “bonus”. 😉
      The name Anastasía is an acceptable name, by the way! Likewise Katarina would gain a new accent – Katarína.

      • 

         

        Kristin Nicole:

        @hulda Awesome, thank you so much!!! I really liked all of the names and the ones for Nicole were really cool. I was very surprised to see that mine and my daughter’s name would be nearly the same. I was a bit confused though because I thought in your second paragraph of this article that if a non-Icelander and another non-Icelander have a child, they don’t have to choose an approved name? Not that I plan on having any more children, but just trying to make sure I understand the situation clearly. We also would not be allowed to change our last name? Even if we were to become citizens?
        Also, do you know if the naming book is available to read anywhere online? I tried looking for it but came up empty handed.
        Oh and about the 2 last names, this was what I had read:
        “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.”
        I was just curious about this because it seems like a very egalitarian solution to naming.
        Sorry to bother you with so many questions, just curious! Thanks again! 😀

        • 

           

          hulda:

          @Kristin Nicole As long as you’re not citizens of Iceland and your child won’t become one either, the naming laws do not concern you. They only affect citizens. 🙂 The old naming law that forced immigrants to take an Icelandic first name did not force them to begin to use a patronymic, but I figure you could change into one if you wanted to – I’m not entirely sure of this one as the naming law says little about a situation like that. Could be it’s such a rare one they haven’t had a need for one? :D?

          I’m afraid Nöfn Íslendinga is only available in book form, but it may be possible to order it via the internet. It might get expensive to mail though, it’s large and really heavy.

          As for the matronymic+patronymic combo… colour me surprised but it seems to really be possible! 😀 I have to say though that this is the first time that I hear of a person having both names, so I assume it’s rare.

          It’s not a bother at all, I like comments and replying to them! 😀

20. 

     

    Beau:

    How do you know when to add -sson or -son to a parent’s name to determine the last name of their son? In other words, when do you throw in an extra ‘s’?

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Beau Good question! It’s actually not an extra s at all, it’s the genitive ending of the male name.

      Some male names get the genitive ending -ar while others get -s.
      The name Egill has genitive form Egils while Bjartur is Bjartar. On occasion the name may even get both – Björn can have both Björns and Bjarnar. The -son ending is simply tacked after the genitive form whichever it is, which creates the “double s” you mentioned: Egilsson, Bjartarson, Björnsson, Bjarnarson.

      Sigurður is an interesting exception, because its genitive form is always Sigurðar. However, when using it in a patronymic for a boy it’s always Sigurðsson (while a girl will be Sigurðardóttir). Hmm, maybe I should write a blog post on this topic alone since my explanation here is rather too short and simplistic…

21. 

     

    Austin:

    Hello,

    My name is Austin James. So I was wondering… What would it be in Icelandic? Thanks!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Austin The first name that came to mind was Aðalsteinn. It’s a little longer than Austin, but it still sounds very similar. The name is very old, the first mention of it that I can remember comes from Egils saga where one of the main characters is king Aðalsteinn, Athelstan in the English translation. The name is put together of aðal (= noble, aristocrat) and steinn (= rock).

      James is difficult because Icelandic does not have the English “j”-sound, so I’m going to have to pick a name with an Icelandic pronunciation “j” instead, which sounds more like “y” in English. I could suggest Jarl or Játvarður. The first means “earl”, the second is an Icelandic version of the name Edward. Of these Jarl is more common as a second than a first name, so I’m leaning more towards it: Aðalsteinn Jarl.

22. 

     

    Kieron Drumm:

    Hey, my name is Kieron Drumm. What would my name be? 🙂 I’m planning on moving to Iceland someday so it might help to know haha.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Kieron Drumm Kieron would almost definitely become Kjartan. The meaning of the name is not known but that’s never stopped it from being popular – after all, the saga hero of Laxdæla called Kjartan was not only so beautiful he made people swoon left and right, he was also such a fierce fighter that his attackers waited until he had been fasting for over a week before they dared to attack him. And even then they only succeeded in killing him because he refused to kill one of them, his foster brother Bolli.

      Another option could be Keran. It stems from one of Óðinn’s names “Hjarrandi” and it’s original meaning is most likely “shield”.

      If Drumm is your second name it could be f.ex. Draupnir or Dreki. Names beginning with “dr” are very few, especially male names. Draupnir and Dreki are both rather new as male names – Draupnir on its origin is Óðinn’s golden, wealth-bringing ring. Dreki means a dragon. 🙂

23. 

     

    Demian:

    Hi,
    My name is Demian Panello. I’m from Argentina, I have italian roots (like almost the 50% of the population here in Argentina), anyway I’m currently learning icelandic (ég er að læra íslensku) and I’m curious now to know how could I be named in Iceland.
    So, my name is “Demian” (yes, like Hermann Hesse book) my last name is “Panello” but I think we can leave this at side according to the icelandic naming rules.
    My father’s name is “Roberto” so I think that my icelandic last name would be “Robertsson” (or something like that).
    But what about my first name? How could a keep in some way the “charming” of my first name in icelandic? 🙂

    Regards.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Demian Demian is another difficult one to match, especially by the traditionally Icelandic names. There is of course Damjan, but that’s just an Icelandic way of writing Damien and I think trying to find Icelandic names is more interesting to you guys! Dalvin could work (dal = valley, vin = friend), or even Dvalinn. Dvalinn is both an old and a new name, old if you go by the first mention of it (Dvalinn is a name of a dwarf in the Medieval texts) but it has become used as a given name recently. Dýrmundur could also be an option (dýr = dear, valuable, beloved, mundur = protection, guard, guardian).

      For Roberto there’s both Róbert and Robert as exact matches, you’re right about your possible patronymic!

24. 

     

    Victor Björn:

    Hello there Hulda! I am very happy to have found this place! I am an Ásatrúar from Brazil. My name is Victor but I have adopted the name Björn for myself after some time in the faith, as a mark of passage from one stage of my life to another.

    I wanted to know if you can help me transform the names of my ancestors into Icelandic form. I have a list of them and would really like to know how to call them in Icelandic.

    I have put them in English whenever possible, so to easen things for you:

    I am son of Johnny (yes, my father’s name is literally Johnny lol), who I put as Jóni in Icelandic, and Sandra. My father’s father is named John (João) and his wife was Maria, John’s father was called Anthony (António) and his mother was Francisca. Anthony was son of August (Augusto).

    I am son of Sandra, who is daughter of Dijalma, which seems to have come from teutonic, “hjal” (helm) and “mâri” (famous), leading to “famous by the helm”. Dijalma’s wife is Ivonete and his father and mother were Aparício (from latin Aparitius) and Hilda. Aparício’s father was Nestor and his mother was Maria Augusta. Nestor’s father was Roger (Rogério) and his mother was Maria Guinevere (Maria Genoveva). Roger was son of of Anthony August (Antonio Augusto).

    Sandra’s mother, Ivonete, was daughter of Joseph August (José Augusto) and Henedina. Joseph was son of Maximillian (Maximilliano), who was son of Joseph (Giuseppe).

    That’s basicly it. I know it is a LOT of names, but if you could help me I would be very grateful! 😀

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Victor Björn I’ll do my best, but I’m afraid that due to the large amount of names I won’t be able to add the meanings of the names to all of them. I will add them to your closest family though, so let’s see:

      Johnny and John: Jón/Jóhann. You can also go for Jómar or Jómundur (jó = horse, mar = sea, mundur = guardian)
      Sandra: Sandra exists, but you can also go for f.ex. Salvör (sal = hall/sun, depending on translation, vör = to defend)
      Maria: María, or even Marveig (mar = sea, veig = power)
      Dijalma: Hjálmar (hjálm = helmet, -ar ending can either mean ‘army’ or a plural form for the word)
      Ivonete: no close matches, but perhaps Ingifríður or Ingigerður (ingi = king, fríður = beautiful, gerður = wall, as in a defensive/protective part of a castle)

      Anthony: Anton or Andri
      Francisca: Fransiska
      August: Ágúst or Álfgeir

      Aparício: again, no close match. Perhaps Arinbjörn?
      Hilda: Hilda
      Nestor: no exact match – Njáll? Nikulás?
      Maria Augusta: María Ágústa
      Roger: Róar or Rotgeir
      Maria Guinevere: María Gunndís/Gunnfríður
      Anthony August: Ágúst Andri (note the change in order of names, it sounds more natural to an Icelander this way)
      Joseph August: Jósteinn Ágúst
      Henedina: Henný
      Maximilian: Maximíli
      Joseph: Jósteinn

      • 

         

        Victor Björn:

        @hulda Thank you very much! 😀 This is great. I think I’ll leave Nestor as Njáll, since it is a more traditional name. And Anthony I think I’ll keep as Anton, since it sounds more like the name of my ancestor.Maria Guinevere I changed to María Gunnfríður because it has the same amount of syllables 🙂 I put Anthony August as Ágúst Anton.

        Thank you so much for all your help!! 😀

25. 

     

    Caroline:

    Hi Hulda!
    I’m thinking about starting my own blog and I have some problems about the address/nickname. I’m really fascinated with Iceland recently and searching for some beautiful words I found your blog and this entry. I thought that maybe you could help me and translate my name so I can use it as my blog name? My name is Caroline/Carolina in english, though I’m from Poland and in polish it’s very similar: Karolina.
    cheers! xx

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Caroline Hello and welcome!

      Caroline could be f.ex. Karólina, which is the Icelandic form of Karolina, or Katrin, which is the Icelandic form of Katarina. I don’t find any exact matches from the traditionally Icelandic names but if you don’t mind jumping a bit further, Geirfinna (geir = spear, finna = the Finnish) or Geirhildur (hildur = battle) could also work. Or even Geirfríður (fríður = beautiful). 🙂

      The best of luck with your blog! I hope to see you around here as well.

      • 

         

        Caroline:

        @hulda Thank you so much for your reply! I’m still working on my future blog but I’m using one of these names for sure 🙂
        Have a nice weekend! xx

26. 

     

    Claire:

    What could be my icelandic name? Thanks a lot for your interesting post.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Claire Names that begin with “cl” are always a little challenging to match because Icelandic does not have the letter C in its alphabet, and the cl/kl sound at the beginning of a name is also foreign. All of the names listed in Nöfn Íslendinga that begin with it are loaned from abroad, such as Klara.

      To find a name that’s more Icelandic in its roots I’ll have to take some liberties with the pronunciation, but f.ex. Leifey (leifur = heir, ey = island) or even Ljósbjört (ljós = light, bjartur = bright) which would match the meaning of the name Claire. Both names are very rare though, so if you’d prefer a more commonly used name it could also be Laufey (lauf = leaf, ey = island).

      • 

         

        Claire:

        @hulda Thanks 🙂

27. 

     

    Brett:

    Just curious if you could help me out with my daughters name: Adelyn (pronounced add-al-inn) Aurora.
    Thank you.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Brett Adelyn would get the Aðal- beginning, that means “the most”, “the ruling”. Some names that could work well are Aðalrós (rós = rose) and Aðalveig (veig = power). Both names are rare, but the amount of syllables matches well! For a more common name option there’s Aðalheiður (heiður = honour).

      Aurora exists in Icelandic in the form Áróra, but if you’d rather go for a trad. Icelandic one there’s Árný, Ársól and Ársæl, even though the syllable count here doesn’t match so well. Ár- beginning seems to hint at good weather, although there does not seem to be an exact translation to what Ár- beginnings in names mean. Another meaning that Nöfn Íslendinga suggests is “herald”. For the rest, Ný = new, sól = sun, sæl = sweet, lovely.

      Árþóra could also work although it’s extremely rare, currently only three women bear it. -Þóra = female version of Þór, the thunder god’s name.

      Maybe Aðalrós Ársól, to hint at the meaning behind the name Aurora?

28. 

     

    Dylan:

    Greetings to you! I adore your Icelandic blog posts really, and Iceland is my favourite country.

    However, I want to ask for what my name would be!

    My name is Dylan. My father’s name is Brian, and my mother’s name is Karen. I’m Irish, so I’m really curious.. I had even some thoughts that my name cannot be converted to Icelander name, however to be sure, I must ask the fluent Icelandic blog poster! 😀

    If that is ok! 🙂
    Greetings and thanks for reading my message!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Dylan Hi, and nice to meet you! Worry not – there indeed are names that cannot be converted as they are but they can always be matched with an Icelandic name in some other way. Let’s see:

      Dylan could become f.ex. Dýri, a name that’s been used since the Medieval times (there are even places in Iceland named after a Medieval Dýri, such as Dyrafjörður). The name can technically speaking have two translations, “animal” or “valuable” but most likely the correct one is the latter. 😀

      Dvalinn is another possibility. It’s a dwarf name of origin (one of those Tolkien borrowed for his book Hobbit) but there are a couple of Dvalinns in Iceland at the moment.

      (Just a note: I’m aware that Dylan has been used as a female name as well, but I’m making assumptions based on your homecountry and giving you male name options. If I’m wrong just let me know!)

      Brian could become f.ex. Brynjar (brynj = armour, ar = army) or Brjánn, which is an Icelandic version of Brian. This name, though considered a loan name, is very old in usage in Iceland and is believed to have arrived here along with the first settlers’ Irish slaves, and becoming popular because of powerful chieftains such as king Brian Boru (Brian Bóroimhe). With a patronymic your name could therefore be Dýri/Dvalinn Brjánsson.

      Karen is a name that exists in the same exact form here in Iceland, so she would not be required to change it at all. 🙂

      • 

         

        Dylan:

        @hulda Wow! Thanks for replying so soon!

        I am happy that my name could be changed into Icelandic! But I’m interested in the results above.. I mean, the details explaining what my name could be are very interesting indeed. A good thing now that I can be Dýri/Dvalinn Brjánsson.. great Icelandic-fied name (lol)

        Thank you so much Hulda, all the best! 🙂

29. 

     

    Dmitry:

    Hello Hulda,

    Very good blog, I found many interesting things here. Thank you!

    I’m of slavic origin, my first name Dmitry and my patronym is Alexeevich (i.e. son of Alexey). After reading that post I really wondered, what my name would be in Icelandic?

    In advance thanks!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Dmitry One possibility could be Ditleif (dit = people/nation, leif = heir) although it’s a rare name. Another, equally rare but fitting could be Dísmundur (dís = goddess, mundur = protection/revenge/judgement). Optionally Dýri, as in the answer right above your comment, could also work. 🙂

      The name Alex is known and used in Iceland, as is Alexander. So the patronymic could either be Alexson or Alexandersson.

      • 

         

        Dmitry:

        @hulda I like Dísmundur Alexson even more than my real name! Thank you so much!

        I really appreciate that your government makes its best to protect language from foreign influence. We’ve got quite another situation in Russia. For example, Russian IT specialists (and some others) just use English words declined (or inflected) by Russian rules. That sounds really horrible for any person, who uses English as everyday language (I think for native Russian speakers too).

        And, if I’m not bothering you, what about names Julia(Yuliya) and Vyacheslav?

30. 

     

    Ankana:

    Hello Hulda,

    I found your blog just today while looking for informations about Iceland. Didn’t read a lot of articles yet but this one made me really interested about my Icelandic name.
    I am French, my first name is Anaïs (everybody calls me Anna though, but I think it would be the same in Icelandic..?) which means grace in Hebrew and is derived from the name of the Persian goddess of love. My father’s name is Alain. So if it’s not bothering you, could you help me find my name please ?
    Thank you very much in advance 🙂

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Ankana Anna must be one of the most international female names there is! It could definitely work in this case, but let’s look at some other possibilities as well.

      There’s f.ex. Anney, which is put together of Anna and ey (= island), Álfey (álf = elf), Álfdís (dís = goddess) and Árndís (árn = eagle). Any of these could easily work. Of them Árndís is probably the most common in use and Anney the rarest. For your patronymic I could suggest Alansdóttir or Aldarsdóttir – Alan is a loaned name, originally Alain, and Aldar is a masculine version of the female name Alda, which means a wave.

      There has been one Anais in Iceland by the way! She lived on Snæfells area at the beginning of the previous century. Still, that’s not an Icelandic name. 😀

31. 

     

    Benjamin Dumas:

    Hello Hulda,
    My first name is Benjamin, and my father’s first name is Jean-Claude. What would it become in Icelandic?
    Thank you !

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Benjamin Dumas The name Benjamín exists in Iceland so it could almost stay the same, you’d just have to begin to add an extra accent over the “i”. Other names that could work are Beinteinn (bein = injury, cut, teinn = tree, this name is actually a kenning in origin meaning a sword), a name that’s known since the 1300s, or Bergmann (berg = mountain, mann = man). Bergmundur (mundur = protection/defense) could also work.

      Jean-Claude is another difficult name, but I could suggest f.ex. Játgeir (an Icelandic version of Old English Eádgár) or Jakob, another loan name but an ancient one just like Játgeir, both are known since the settlement era. So the patronymic would be either Játgeirsson or Jakobsson.

32. 

     

    Emily:

    Hæ Hulda! I’m a new reader to your blog, it’s been super helpful in my Icelandic endeavors thus far!

    I’ve done some research on this topic already, and found that the closest translation of my first name (Emily) is Emilía, or even Emilíana. Does that seem accurate?

    My middle name is Diane, which probably translates to Diana, já?

    And finally, is there an Icelandic version of my family name, Turner? If I was a citizen I would probably take the patronym (Róbertsdóttir – for my dad’s name Robert, is that right?) but I’m curious if the Icelandic version of Turner has existed historically.

    Thanks for the great post!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Emily Hi and welcome! I’m glad to know the blog has helped you!

      Yes, it could be Emilía indeed. Your name is very well-liked here if Nöfn Íslendinga is anything to go by, because it seems to exist in so many varying forms – Emilía, Emelía, Emilína, Emelína, Emelíana, Emilíana, Emelíanna… and of course there’s always Emilý. 😀

      Other names that could work are f.ex. Elíveig (elí = may mean the Christian God, veig = power) or even Eldey (eld = fire, ey = island)! Names that have Icelandic origin rarely begin with Em- for some reason…

      Diana/Díana/Díanna indeed exist as well! There’s also Dísa, which is often used as a second name and in a way bears the same meaning as Diane (Dís = goddess).

      You’re also correct on your patronymic – you indeed have studied this matter well already, so I hope I could provide something new and interesting! 😀 I tried to run the name Turner through some searches but I came up with nothing – then I tried to translate it but the thing that I mainly came up with was this:

      http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasoneppink/4020572482/

      They’re delicious but I don’t think these are the Turners you’re looking for! 😀 Sorry, it seems like Icelanders just don’t get this whole surname fad.

33. 

     

    Chelsea:

    Hi Hulda,

    I saw your blog as I was searching Iceland’s culture. Your blog is very interesting! My name is Chelsea. I was wondering what it would be in Icelandic. Thank you! 🙂

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Chelsea You have another challenging name to pair, but let’s see!

      The letter C does not exist in Icelandic, nor do any names begin with a sound similar to “ch” so I’ll look at the names that begin with an S instead.

      There’s f.ex. Selmdís, which is put together of the parts Selma (a loaned name from English) and dís (= goddess). Sigfríður (sig = victory, fríður = beauty) or Sigdís could also work. There’s also Signý (ný = new, fresh), an ancient name that dates back to the Settlement Era of Iceland and beyond.

34. 

     

    Yasmin Bergamin:

    Hi Hulda,
    I’m learning Icelandic and your blog is helping me a lot!
    I have an Arabic name, though I’m Brazilian, so I wonder if there’s anything close to it in Icelandic or some kind of equivalent to it’s meaning (white flower)?
    Also, my dad’s name is Selmo, how would my patronymic be?
    Thanks! 😉

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Yasmin Bergamin There is one exact match, Jasmín, which is your name but written according to Icelandic spelling rules. For a typical Icelandic name I think I’d go for the ones that begin with Ís- (= ice), such as Ísmey (= mey = maiden) or even Ísey (= ey = island). Alas, there’s no good match for “white flower”, the nearest one I could find is Jökulrós (= jökull = glacier, rós = rose). It could work, though!

      Selmo has no near matches, but I could suggest f.ex Sigfús (sig = victorious, fús = eager) or simply Sigur (= victorious). That would make you either Sigfúsardóttir or Sigursdóttir.

35. 

     

    Israel:

    Góðan dagin hulda 🙂

    I’ll be very short scence is late.

    I have two horrible religious names that i really wanth to changes when
    I get my icelandic citycen ship hehh (i live in iceland)
    Well the thing is that my firat name is Jesus (i know u.u)
    And the midle one is Israel…. and that one im quite ok wirh
    So…. what do you think i can get for does two?

    Some tumes i go just with “Íssi” for short israel but they dont really get it
    And one name that i love is Hrafnar but it might be a bit to icelandic hh
    Well what do you think? 🙂

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Israel Góðan daginn! 🙂 You’re actually in a lucky situation if you don’t mind your name being different from your original one – the most important thing is that you yourself like it.

      Hrafnar is a completely acceptable name, but it’s one of those rare ones that are only used as a second name. If you want a raven-ish first name, how about Hrafn?

      I’m going to assume your first name is pronounced with an H-sound in the beginning (do let me know if I’m wrong though and I’ll check you names that begin with the correct sound), so other possible first names could be Helgi (= holy + dedicated), Héðinn (meaning is unclear, but it has been tied to both a hooded cape and battle) or Hjálmur (= helmet).

      I know you said you’re ok with your second name, but just in case you were interested there are many names that begin Ís-.
      Ísgeir (ís = ice, geir = spear), Ísleifur (leifur = offspring, heir) or Ísólfur (-ólfur here is a form of úlfur, wolf).

36. 

     

    Jonathan:

    Hi Hulda,

    I’m glad I’ve found this page – I have been trying to research this for a while.

    My name is Jonathan/Jonny/Jon, which I know translates into Jonatan, Joni, Jon – which are Norse names adopted from christianity. I have been looking into older proto-christian Norse names which I can apply it to, but I’m struggling.

    I have found Jonakr (the legend of the king with 3 sons) but I cannot find what this name means anywhere.

    My surname is Wilkinson, so that is a bit obvious :]

    Any help would be much appreciated.

    -Jon

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Jonathan Yeah, your name is one of those that has to change a lot to NOT have the Christian part in it – every single name in Icelandic that has a “jón” part comes from the original Christian version. Jón is and has always been a super popular name, though it’s also a fact that once upon a time it was habitual in Iceland to name every nameless/unknown male person “Jón” in the records. Also interestingly there’s a name Jónþór, which literally translates as “John-Thor”. 😀

      But let’s look at some other possibilities! Note that Icelandic doesn’t have the “zh”-sound that starts the English “Jonathan” so I’m going for names that start with the closest other option, J or I (pronounced as the y in “yo” or the e in Eeyore).

      Ísólfur or Ísleifur could therefore perhaps work (ís = ice, ólfur = úlfur = wolf, leifur = heir). Both names come from at least as early as the settlement era although likely they are far older than that.

      If you don’t mind the syllable count, Jarl could also work – it’s so old it can be found in Rigsþúla, one of the Eddic poems. It’s means “earl”. Another one is Jökull (= glacier) which is also from the settlement era iow pre-Christian Iceland.

      As for Jonakr, I’m afraid I can’t help there. 🙁 It isn’t listed as an official name and the sources, Edda and Völsunga saga, don’t tell much about the man. Christianity and local pagan beliefs lived side by side for a much longer time than is usually believed though so it’s not entirely impossible that the name Jonakr wouldn’t also have a Christian origin. If anyone has any info on the etymology of the name Jonakr I’d be very interested to know!

      • 

         

        Jonathan:

        @hulda Hi Hulda! Thanks for getting back to me!

        Yeah Jonakr is a strange name as it doesn’t appear anywhere else with much information about the man. The closest I have gotten was to ‘Jonak’ which is an old polish name.

        I’ve always liked the name Isolfur. If I may ask another question:

        Amy I right in assuming that name suffixes such as: -r,-ir, -nir and -nar all mean ‘warrior’?

        I have found such examples as Thorir (Thor’s warrior) and Ragnar (Wise Warrior) but I am not entirely sure about the simple -r, or -nir.

        Also many apologies that I am using the standard alphabet for the names – I know it isn’t correct but my keyboard doesn’t have much variety 🙁

37. 

     

    Luciano:

    Hi, my name is Luciano, I’m from Brazil. I just found the website and found it to be very interesting. My last names are Venceslau (researches tell it to be of Czech descendence) and da Silva (Brazilian). Also, I have the same name as my father, which means I have a “Junior”. Luciano Venceslau da Silva Junior (big, isn’t it?). Do you have an idea how I would be called?

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Luciano Icelandic male names tend to have fewer syllables than Luciano, but some that I could suggest would be Leiðólfur (leið = route, travel, ólfur = úlfur = wolf) or Ljósálfur ( ljós = light, álfur = elf). The latter one would even have a similar, light-related meaning behind it. For Venceslau, is it’s a second name and not a surname, you could use f.ex. Veturliði. It’s a bit tricky to translate but it most likely means “a sailor who goes a-viking during the winter”.

      Your last name would likely stay the same: although most people here use patro- and matronymics surnames exist as well. If you’d rather use a patronymic it’s important you pick the same name for both father and son, seeing as you’re named after him. Either Leiðólfur Leiðólfsson or Ljósálfur Ljósálfsson.

38. 

     

    Samantha:

    Hello Hulda,

    I love this article! I have 2 friends who live in Iceland, and they are trying to teach us the language. It’s tough but it’s so pretty! I was wondering if I could find out my siblings’ Icelandic names.

    Mine is Samantha, but I read in an earlier post on this page that mine might be either snæbirna (“snow-bearess”) or sóllilja (“sun-lily”). Would that be correct?

    My sister’s name is Erika, and my brother is Justin, and my last sister is Sydney.

    Also, as far as last names, am I correct in thinking that they usually take on the father’s name? My father’s name is Robert. So, for us girls, would our last names be “Robertsdóttir”? And my brother’s would be “Robertsson”? (Let me know if I am spelling them incorrectly!)

    They are super excited to learn their names so we can begin to use them in sentences 🙂
    Thank you so much for your willingness to help!

    -Samantha

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Samantha Hi Samantha! Those two names would indeed both fit yours, concerning the sound and syllable count. 🙂

      Erika is a Nordic name and exists in Iceland as well, but if she’d like something specifically Icelandic I could suggest f.ex. Eyrún (ey = island, rún = rune), Eyfríður (fríður = beautiful) or even Erla. Erla is short for maríuerla, a wagtail.

      Justin is also used here, but like with Erika I can give other suggestions as well. Maybe Járngeir (jarn = iron, geir = spear) or Jómar (jó = horse, mar = famous) or Jórmundur (jór = king, mundur = defense), if you don’t mind the syllable count not matching?

      For Sydney perhaps Sigdís (sig = to better/to win, dís = goddess), Signý (ný = new) or Sigrún. The name Robert is spelled with an extra accent in Icelandic – Róbert – so you’re right, the daughters would be Róbertsdóttir and the son Róbertsson. 🙂

      • 

         

        Samantha:

        @hulda Thank you so much!!!!! 😀 I can’t wait to tell my siblings.
        Also, do you know of any useful places to go about practicing the Icelandic language on the Web? I’m already studying at an website called Icelandic Online (icelandiconline.is) and they have very helpful and nice lessons. I’m just wondering if there are any other resources you would recommend? Thank you!

        • 

           

          hulda:

          @Samantha Let’s see, here are some of my own favourites:

          http://islenzka.net/

          * A very thorough site kept by one of the most dedicated Icelandic language bloggers there is.

          http://www.utvarpsaga.is/index.php
          http://www.ruv.is/

          * These two links are to Icelandic news sites, excellent material for learning the language in practice.

39. 

     

    Cory:

    Hello Hulda!

    Reading this post had been a pleasure. I have loved my scant Icelandic heritage and as a student of linguitics have loved the language for as long as I can remember. Samantha above is spot on too, Icelandic was tough to speak (phonologicaly) but was like a soft, creamy butter upon my ears. Visiting the island for the first time was a truely amazing experience and I plan to go back soon. That being said, I would be honoured if you would help me with my Icelandic name. My full name is Cory Kenoyer, but my father’s first name is Joseph and my mother’s is Ruth. Is there a rule governing the taking a matronymic or patronymic surname. Which is more common and could I take one or the other?

    Thank you so much for the read.

    Cory

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Cory Hi Cory, I’m glad you liked your visit and welcome again!

      As Icelandic doesn’t have the letter C I’ll go for names that begin with a K instead: Kári is the one that came to mind first becuase it’s very similar in pronunciation. It’s an old name that goes back all the way to the Medieval times and means “a man with curly hair”. Kolur could also work – interestingly it originally had a similar meaning as Kári: “dark-haired man”.

      The history of the rule over the patro- and matronymic names is actually quite interesting! Patronymics have always been more or less the norm, a matronymic used to mean there was no father. He might have died, or the child may have been the outcome of an affair: another option was sometimes to give the child the name Hansson, which can mean both “son of Hans” and “son of him”.

      Nowadays it’s entirely up to personal choice, though patronymic is still more common. A child may get a matronymic based on both the decision of the parents and/or the child itself, since people sometimes change their patronymic to a matronymic. Therefor you can quite freely decide whether you’d rather be Jónsson or Rutharson. 🙂

40. 

     

    M.:

    Hello. I have some questions about what my Icelandic name would be and about patronymic/matronymic naming in general. I would, however, prefer not to put everything in the comments section here. May I e-mail you my questions? Thank you.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @M. E-mailing is just fine: the address of this blog is icelandinmymind(@)gmail(.)com, remove the brackets. 🙂

      • 

         

        M:

        @hulda Thanks very much; I’ll be e-mailing you soon. 🙂

41. 

     

    Jonina:

    My name is Jonina Selbie, my grandfather was born in rekjavic so i was curious as to what my last name would have been matriarchly, my mothers name was Kimberley 🙂 thanks!!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Jonina Hi Jonina! Or Jónína, as Icelanders would write your name. Names that begin with a Ki- are rare, but’s let’s see. Kirstín would have a Kirstínardóttir, Kjölvör would have Kjölvarardóttir and Kjördís would have Kjördísardóttir (the Icelandic J is pronounced similar to I/Y in English).

42. 

     

    Adam:

    Thank you very much for this wonderful article.
    I’m curious about know the Icelandic name for Muhammad, Mohammad or Mohamed.
    Secondly, if a man named Charles Blatch marries an Icelandic woman in the Unites States, have a baby named Jon then move to Iceland, will the baby’s name change? What will be its full name? Is it going to be Jon Blatch, Jon Karlsson or Jon Karlsson Blatch?

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Adam Looking at the name Muhammed f.ex. Manfreð (man = man, freð = excellent, beautiful) or Mýrkjartan (= possibly “sea viking”, originally an Irish name that arrived to Iceland during Medieval times) could possibly work. Finding male names that start Mo- or Mu- and with a suitable syllable count proved to be impossible. 🙁

      For the second: the baby won’t have to change his name, he can go on being Jon Blatch and nowadays he most likely would. During the time when the name-changing law was still in effect he would have had to change his first name into Jón which would change the spelling only slightly but the pronunciation entirely. Surnames, far as I know, have always been allowed IF the person moves in from another country.

      Still, it’s not rare or unheard-of that the surname is changed as well. Let’s imagine Charles moved in in the 80’s and despite keeping his own surname, wished to give his son an Icelandic patronym instead. The child would therefore have become Jón Karlsson just as you suggested. 🙂

      • 

         

        Adam:

        @hulda Thank you so much for your extremely informative reply.
        I was thinking Mohammad would be changed to Magnús or Móði. I guess I was making a similar mistake to changing Elina to Elín instead of Helena 🙂

43. 

     

    Curtis:

    Hello! What would my name (Curtis) be?
    I find it funny that if I follow the surname rules, my last name would be Eiríksson, like Leif Eiríksson.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Curtis Hi! Sorry that I’m a little late in replying – let’s see:

      Icelandic does not have the letter “C” so I’ll look up names that begin with a “K” instead.

      Karl would be an obvious suggestion. It’s one of the ancient names that dates back to Settlement Era and further and has been steadily popular up until this day. It means “man” but has an undertone of both “free man” and “grown man”. Another suggestion would be Kjartan. Like Karl it’s an ancient name, the most famous Kjartan being possibly Kjartan Ólafsson from Laxdæla saga. Its meaning is, alas, unclear. A third would be Kolur, again an ancient name, which means “dark-haired man”.

44. 

     

    Rod:

    My name is Roderick Abbott. I have no affiliation with Iceland other than spending 2 weeks there in 1997 and falling in love with the country. I’d love to know what my Icelandic name would be! Thanks!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Rod Nice to meet you – hope you’ll visit us some day again!

      I’m actually going to look at names that begin with Hr- instead of R- because IMO there are some better matches there.

      Hrolleifur caught my eyes first, especially since its old spelling was Hróðleifur (hróður = well known, famous; leifur = heir). Another similar one is Hróðólfur (ólfur = wolf), but it’s far rarer. There’s of course also Roland/Rolland, but that one’s loaned from Germanic names.

45. 

     

    Geoffrey Loke Scanlon:

    Hæ Hulda. Hvað segiru gott?

    Ég rakst á bloggið þitt af tilviljun og verð að segja þér að mér finnst það mjög fræðandi, áhugavert og skemmtilegt að lesa.

    Born in Sweden with a name like Geoffrey was pretty funny (not!) when I was growing up. My father is Swedish (with a Geordie English mother and an Irish father – hence the English christian name and Irish surname). My father’s name is also a traditional English name, i.e. William. My mother is Icelandic (with a Faroese father and a German mother). Confused yet? I have seen our family tree and I am still very confused considering how many other nationalities that were in the mix going back through the ages. People just call me Geffe or Geffen these days, which I also usually introduce myself as when in Sweden. My mother wanted to call me Guðfreður (her name is Guðfríður), which my father was dead set against, or Lúkas but settled instead for Loke as my middle name as some sort of compromise, I guess. Whenever we visit my mother’s family in Iceland (although not that often anymore unfortunately), all my relatives call me Gummi. I thought this was gælunafnið for Guðmundur or Guðmon or something like that. I didn’t think this was very common these days though.

    Anyway, the name Geoffrey, from what I’ve read, comes from ‘God’ and ‘peace’ although other sources indicate that the first element means ‘Earth, some claim it’s ‘territory’ and others are adamant that it’s ‘stranger’. Is there any Icelandic equivalent? And as for the name Loke (Loki), do people still actually name their sons this these days?

    Getting back to the blog theme now (sorry for taking up so much space on your page), would my Icelandic name be Guðfreður Loki (or Logi or even Lúkas) Vilhjálmsson?

    Ég væri mjög þakklátur fyrir hjálpina 🙂

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Geoffrey Loke Scanlon Hæ hæ Gummi! Ég segi bara allt fínt en þú? 😀 Your family tree sounds like something that Icelanders could discuss for hours (there’s still people here who’ll follow an introduction with a “and whose Geoffrey are you?” meaning “please list your family members here, at least the important ones”)…

      It does not entirely surprise me that you would be called Gummi here! Icelanders use nicknames regularly and someone with hard to pronounce foreign name might easily be assigned one as well. Sometimes it will even depend on how many people of similar names are there – a lonely Guðmundur would be called Gummi but if there’s a Geoffrey and a Guðmundur, Geoffrey can become Gummi and the Guðmundur Mummi. Just so that it’s easy to immediately make a difference between which one you’re talking about. Note though that once people start using a nickname for a person that nickname will stick and it won’t be changed for any reason.

      If you’d like to keep the meaning of the name same… well… your mother knows best: Guðfreður. That’s not your only option however, since many names that begin with Guð- could work here such as Guðgeir that has some similarity in pronunciation, though little in meaning: geir = spear. There’s also Guðleifur (leifur = heir, descendant), Gudmundur (mundur = present, protection), Guðsteinn (steinn = rock) and so forth. Alas, I can’t think of a name that would begin with the meaning “earth”…

      Loki as a human name is actually really young! The jötunn Loki of Nordic mythology is of course old as fire, but no one named their children after him until very recently. It’s used both as a first name and a second name but it’s vastly more popular as the second one. Logi, however, has been in use for several hundred years, means “fire”, and is massively popular as a second name: In 2007 it took the 28th place on the list of popular second names for men.

      I guess your name could therefore easily be Guðfreður Loki or Guðfreður Logi. An Icelander might tilt towards the latter easily because Logi just is so typical second name, but Loki works too. 🙂

46. 

     

    Sarah Downes:

    Hello Hulda! This is exactly what I was looking for as I am ousting Book Club with an Icelandic theme after reading Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Amazing book!
    Am hoping to translate my friends names to Icelandic, and your is the closest thing I have come to that may help!?
    I am still working on getting their father’s names, but first names are: Lindy, Teresa, Lisa, s
    Sarah, Christine, Clare, Judy, Sue, Lillian and Kath…… Hope that is not too much work I very much appreciate your help!!!!

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Sarah Downes Hi, and sorry for the late reply! Let’s see:

      Lindy – I’d go for Elín (Icelandic form of Helena, comes from Settlement era) or Lindís (Origin of Lin is a little bit unknown, dís = goddess).

      Teresa – I found nothing with names starting with T so I went for the Þor-names: Þorfinna (Thor-Finnish – I’d like to explain the logic behind Icelandic names but alas I found none) or even Þóra (a female form of Thor). I’d like to note though that although a name begins with an old god’s name it doesn’t bring any religious meaning with it: there are countless Þor-something people in this country, some of which no doubt are devout Christians.

      Lisa – Líf (= life) or Leifey (= Leif island). The latter is a new name and very rare, whereas the first is quite old, yet popular to this day. Maybe even Laufey (leaf + island).

      Sarah – Salka or Sunna (= sun). Salka is actually a diminutive of Salvör (soul + protection), but after Laxness wrote his famous Salka Valka (heroine’s name is in reality Salvör Valgerður) the diminutive became a real name. Maybe Salvör could therefore also work…

      Christine – Kristín or Kristrún. Kristín is Icelandic form of Christine, Kristrún uses rún = rune as an “extra”. Kristín is far more popular of the two.

      Clare – hard one, but I might go for Kjölvör (keel + protection) or Klara (Icelandic Clara). Kjölvör is ancient and can be found in f.ex. Bárðar saga Snæfellsáss!

      Judy – another difficult one, the J-sound does not exist in Icelandic… maybe Jórunn or Jónína. Both are popular, Jónina being technically Jón + nína, Jórunn (Jór = king, unn = age/love, it’s not clear which word -unn comes from). In Icelandic J is pronounced like Y in “you”.

      Sue – Sunna or Sæunn (sæ = sea, -unn – see above).

      Lillian – Elín, or even take the name in two and use Anna Lilja (= lily)! It has to be thrown “upside-down” like this, though, because Lilja Anna feels weird to pronounce.

      Kath – Katrín (Icelandic Cathryn/Katherine) or maybe Katla? Katla is also Settlement era old as a name, and is the female form of Ketill which in modern Icelandic means a kettle, though as a name it rather means a “helmet”. It’s also the name of one of Iceland’s most powerful volcanoes!

      I tried to avoid just taking an Icelandic version of a name if it was at all possible and rather find an Icelandic-by-origin or at least very old names. I hope I could be of some help. 🙂

47. 

     

    Sara:

    Hi,first of all congrats for the great post!My name is Sara(no h),and my dad’s name is Antonio and my mom’s Marina.I have some friends in Iceland and it’s a country that i would looove to visit and i was thinking about how my name would be spelled in Icelandic and found your blog and i would love to know what my icelandic name would be and its meaning 🙂
    Thanks in advance!

    *also sorry for the not so good english,as you can probably tell by my name english is not my first(or second) language heheh

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Sara Hi Sara!

      How about Salvör (sal = soul, vör = protection), Salka (diminutive of Salvör but nowadays a name on its own) or even Sunna (= sun)? Anthony is the Icelandic version of Antonio, but he could also choose a name that begins with Arn- such as Arnsteinn (arn = eagle, steinn = stone) – thus your patronym would be Anthonysdóttir os Arnsteinsdóttir. Marína also exists, but she could just as easily be Maren (diminutive of Marína) or Margrét (Icelandic form of Margarita).

48. 

     

    Toni Sandoval:

    Hi! Though I’m still a bit confused and overhwlemed with the variations of forming an Icelandic name, this is by far the greatest post(s) I’ve read on the matter.
    I’m trying to come up with a name for a label that derives from my names- Toni Sandoval and/or Antonio Sandoval (spanish roots), but also has this wonderul icelandic characteristic. Mind helping me out with these two?
    I’m obsossed with the “ö” (o with two dots), and I was kinda hoping it would pop up or could be used. But I’m not entirely sure when the rules are for using it.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Toni Sandoval Hi! As there was always flexibility in choosing the Icelandic name I’m sure we can find a suitable one. There’s an Icelandic way of writing Antonio, but I think you’d rather have a totally Icelandic name? 🙂

      I could suggest f.ex. Arnbjörn (= arn = eagle, björn = bear), which dates back and beyond the Settlement Era. There’s also Arnþór (þór = Thor), a slightly newer one but still known from the 1700’s. If we treat Sandoval as a middle name as opposed to a surname (which don’t really exist in Iceland) I could suggest Sigurður (= protector) or Snær (= snow). In my own opinion, Snær has better rhythm with both Arnbjörn and Arnþór…

49. 

     

    Bran Martens:

    Hi Hulda,

    What a great blog!I’ve always been in awe of the Icelandic culture and I wondered if it’s still possible to find my Icelandic name? It does sound a little funny since I’m dutch but I’d still like to know. Since I was young I’ve always wanted to travel through the Icelandic landscapes and read stories about the country.

    Thanks to Google I’m here, so, if it’s possible, how can I find my name?

    Thanks in advance,

    (Y) <- That's a thumb in FB in case you wondered, haha.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Bran Martens Hi Bran! I’m really happy you like the blog – let’s see about an Icelandic name for you!

      Bran is a great name to start with by the way, it gives so many possibilities. You could choose a one syllable name such as Björn (= bear) or Brjánn (an Icelandicized version of Brian). Likewise you can select from two-syllable names such as Brandur (= sword, sharp-edged weapon) or Bragi (= poet).

50. 

     

    Diana:

    Hello, I enjoyed your post. I’m up obsessed with all things Icelandic. Wondering what my name, Diana, would be. Thank you.

    • 

       

      hulda:

      @Diana Hi!

      Diana exists as Díana, but other possibilities could f.ex. be Dís (= goddess), Drífa (= blizzard, snow) or even Dýrfinna (dýr = valued, dear, finna = Finnish).