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  • Icelandic surnames
    • Main contributor: Mikael Jónsson

    Icelandic surnames are those carried by individuals from Iceland and those in the Icelandic diaspora in North America and Scandinavia. They are different from those in the rest of the Western World as almost all of them are either patronymic or matronymic, which means that a person is named after their mother or father (for example, Jónsson means "Jón's son" or Jónsdóttir means "Jón's daughter").

    History of Icelandic surnamesHistory of Icelandic surnames

    In the past, patronymic naming was widespread in Scandinavia, where a person's last name is created by appending "-son" or "-dóttir" to their father's initial name. Iceland mostly kept this old tradition in place while other Scandinavian nations like Norway, Sweden and Denmark switched to permanent family names. Some Icelanders started taking on family names in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially those from wealthy families or those who studied overseas. Although those who already possessed family names were permitted to keep them, the Icelandic government prohibited the introduction of new ones in 1925 in order to maintain the country's traditional naming system.[1]

    Icelandic surnames naming conventionsIcelandic surnames naming conventions

    Gravestone of Páll Jónsson
    Gravestone of Páll Jónsson (1811-1880) with the avonymic Mattíassonar. Þingvellir, Iceland.

    Although the system it is still customarily patronymic, using the mother's name (matronymic) is also becoming more popular. The formula for patronymics is therefore (genitive case of father's name, generally adding -s, or if the name ends in -i, it will change to -a) + son/dóttir/bur, whereas the formula for matronymics is (genitive case of mother's name, often -ar, or if the name ends in -a, it will change to -u) + son/dóttir/bur. The Icelandic Parliament enacted a gender autonomy act in 2019 that permits individuals who register as non-binary to use the poetic word bur, which means "son," as a neuter suffix in place of son or dóttir.[2]

    The traditional Icelandic name system is typically abandoned by expatriate Icelanders, or persons of Icelandic origin who reside abroad, such as the sizable Icelandic community in Manitoba, Canada. Like other Nordic immigrants before surnames were fully established in their home countries, they typically adopt the naming convention of their new country of residence, most often by keeping the patronymic of their first ancestor to immigrate to the new country as a permanent family surname.[3] Icelandic surnames in Canada generally take the patronymic of the person's first ancestor to settle in Canada.

    Rare Icelandic surnamesRare Icelandic surnames

    Icelandic ID card
    Icelandic ID card from 1966.

    There are, nevertheless, a few hereditary surnames in the Western meaning. These last names, which are fixed in family lines, are frequently of Danish, German, or noble ancestry.

    • Blöndal — From a farm or place-name, used by officials and scholars
    • Thorlacius — Latinized surname from a clerical family
    • Eldjárn — Meaning “fire iron” – associated with former President Kristján Eldjárn
    • Benediktsson — Rare case of a “frozen” patronymic passed as a surname
    • Sveinbjörnsson — Family of composer Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson
    • Hjartarson — Sometimes used as a surname rather than a strict patronymic
    • Stephensen — Danish-Norwegian noble lineage in Iceland
    • Thoroddsen — Prominent Icelandic intellectual and political family
    • Árnason — Occasionally inherited across generations in rare cases
    • Kvaran — Unique Icelandic literary and artistic family

    Most common Icelandic surnamesMost common Icelandic surnames

    Celebrities with Icelandic surnamesCelebrities with Icelandic surnames

    Magnus Ver Magnusson
    Magnus Ver Magnusson.
    • Björk Guðmundsdóttir - Icelandic singer-songwriter more commonly known as Björk
    • Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson - Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur, the first Icelander to join Forbes magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2005.
    • Hildur Guðnadóttir - Icelandic musician and composer, first solo woman to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score
    • Frank Fredrickson - Canadian Ice Hockey player and aviator, Gold Medal at the 1920 Olympics, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958
    • Halldór Kiljan Laxness - Icelandic writer, poet, 1955 Nobel Prize winner
    • Vigdís Finnbogadóttir - former president of Iceland, first elected female head of state in the world
    • Magnús Ver Magnússon - Icelandic former powerlifter, four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time
    • Leifur Eiríksson, better knowm as Leif Ericson - Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America, approximately half a millennium before Christopher Columbus.

    See alsoSee also

    Explore more about Icelandic surnamesExplore more about Icelandic surnames

    References

    1. ↑ Personal Names Act, No. 45 of 17th May 1996. Government of Iceland
    2. ↑ 9/149 frumvarp: mannanöfn | Þingtíðindi | Alþingi. althingi.is.
    3. ↑ "Icelandic anchor makes Manitoba connection". Winnipeg Free Press, 26 July 2008.
    4. ↑ Icelandic Last Names and Meanings. Family Education


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    APA citation (7th Ed.)

    Mikael Jónsson. (2025, August 1). *Icelandic surnames*. MyHeritage Wiki. https://www.myheritage.com/wiki/Icelandic_surnames