That naming thing.....

When I moved to Iceland in the 1960s there were two naming conventions: a paternal system — where the father gave his children his first name as their last name adding -son if the child was a boy and -dóttir if the child was a girl — or an occasional colonial era surname such as Andersen, Möller or Haarde.

When I received the letter granting me citizenship the letter came with a stipulation — I had to choose an Icelandic name. No “foreign” names were permitted. (Ironically that letter was signed by an official with a Danish surname). So I set about looking for suitable names. 

The first name was easy, I had been christened Michael Bruce so the Michael became Mikael (later Mik). The Mackinnon part of my original surname proved to be a bit harder. My father was named Trafford and I couldn’t find a patronymic friendly equivalent. After much debate within the family it was decided that I would use a second name based on sound alone. Hence the Mackinnon became Magnússon because it sounded similar.

Why did we spend so much time looking for Icelandic names? Simply because the law at that time demanded that we had to use a name that would fit in without introducing foreign names.

In the intervening fifty-plus years some rules have changed. The use of an Icelandic name is no longer compulsory and gender equality measures mean that the matronym (using the mother’s given name instead of the father’s as the root of the second name) has become possible.