NY wrote:
"Sam Wilson" wrote in message
...
NY wrote:
In Icelandic, do *both* the sons and the daughters take the father's
first
name? I have vague memories of being told that daughter's sometimes take
the
mother's first name - so Magnus and Oddny (*) might have a son with a
surname Magnusson and a daughter with a surname Oddnydottir (rather than
Magnusdottir).


Search for “iceland� he
https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names

Shame it doesn't say in what circumstances the daughter's surname is based
on her mother's rather than father's first name. I wonder if there's a
convention or just "whichever sounds better".

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia:

The vast majority of Icelandic last names carry the name of the father, but
occasionally the mother's name is used: e.g. if the child or mother wishes
to end social ties with the father. Some women use it as a social statement
while others simply choose it as a matter of style.

In all of these cases, the convention is the same: Ólafur, the son of
BryndÃ*s, will have the full name of Ólafur BryndÃ*sarson ("the son of
BryndÃ*s"). Some well-known Icelanders with matronymic names are the
football player Heiðar Helguson ("Helga's son"), the novelist Guðrún Eva
MÃ*nervudóttir ("Minerva's daughter"), and the medieval poet EilÃ*fr
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 the mother's
radical feminism and shame over his paternity, which form part of the
film's plot.[9] Some people have both a matronymic and a patronymic: for
example, Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson ("the son of Bergþóra and Eggert"),
the mayor of ReykjavÃ*k since 2014. Another example is the girl Blær
mentioned above: her full name is Blær Bjarkardóttir Rúnarsdóttir ("the
daughter of Björk and Rúnar").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_name#Matronymic_naming_as_a_choice