h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

so many Mrs Gs here!!
Funny that it's considered sexist in Iceland if the woman changes her surname to that of her husband, but not if she keeps her father's name.

True! But I suppose the patronymic is a statement of fact - you are your father's daughter (the surname would be John's Daughter)...

Think it was more the changing a part of yourself for some silly man...

It's also legal in Iceland to be your Mother's Daughter (Jane's Daughter) or even if you've gone completely gender neutral, you can be Son / Daughter of John-and-Jane! It's a very rare person that does that though.

The matronymic is used a bit more but it has...connotations about paternity which sometimes are unwanted.

My niece is her mother's daughter after her biological father refused paternity and Said Some Things, requiring a DNA test, which came back exactly as expected. Lot of bad feeling there. Although my paternity wasn't questioned, the situation is similar for me. If I had had a better relationship with my mother (or been more politically minded, maybe?) I could have changed my name to either my mum's name or my granddad's name. This sort of stuff is fairly recent though, I think, and it always felt like it's one thing to give a child a specific name but then changing things was a bit OTT.

We're a complicated people, us Icelanders! Ask us what's in a name and it turns out to be our entire identity, it seems.

Good luck with the wedding day Bea! Hoping you have lots of fun.

ismarah, is that the difference between 'hvath heitir thu?' and 'hver ert thu?'

How would you make your matronymic/patronymic gender neutral? Would you use 'son-and-daughter' or a word like 'child'?

I studied Icelandic a long time ago, and I like to keep up.

I think it's great that Icelanders feel they have a choice and can change the way they present themselves.

Now, how do you get people to stop calling the president Mr Grimsson?

>>Now, how do you get people to stop calling the president Mr Grimsson?

He could try invading Kuwait. It worked for Saddam Hussein.