How to refer to a whole family in Icelandic?
Hi. I'm learning Icelandic and planning to visit the country a few months later. But there is a thing I can't figure out yet.
For clarity, in majority of English speaking families there is just one last name in each family. So it's easy to mention the entire family with that last name. For example, the Clayton family or the Claytons.
But in Iceland there are from 2 to 4 last names in each family. So how do Icelandic people mention an entire family? Also, how should an English speaker traveller mention an Icelandic family?
1 answer
In Icelandic, you are, I suppose, more likely to refer to a single person and their family, than to the family without naming any single person as well. Random example from the web: "Fjölskylda Einars Darra Óskarssonar heimsótti mig í forsætisráðuneytið í dag." ("The family of Einar Darri[1], son of Óskar, visited me in the office today.")
Those "last names" of Icelandic aren't family names at all. So it doesn't matter that they differ within the family; the first names differ, too. Those "last names" are generally patronymics, i.e., names derived from the given name of one's father.
Imagine a male person with a given name A. A's son with a given name B would be called "B, A's son"[2], while A's daughter with a given name X would be called "X, A's daughter". The difference between a patronymic and a family name becomes apparent in the next generation. Imagine that B has a son who is given name C. Now, C's full name will be "C, B's son".
Finally, imagine A, B, X and C holding an extended family council. They don't use a family name, and there's no single name of any kind that would be present in everybody's full name. Will that detail stop you from calling that congregation of people "A's family" ("fjölskylda A")? No, it won't stop you, like the fact that X's (or even B's) counterpart in another Western culture might already be married[3] and bear a family name different from the one they were born with into A's family, will not stop you either.
Having family names in place isn't required for references to families to be possible.
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"Darri" is a second given name. It is neither a middle name, a family name, nor a patronymic. ↩︎
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There is no comma between a given name and the patronymic in Icelandic. I'm explaining using English which has no proper patronymics, so I opted for the comma in my equivalents. ↩︎
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If an Icelander X living in Iceland marries a Dutchman D with a Dutch family name F, (i.e., "X, A's daughter" marries "D. F.") and wants to take her husband's family name, the legally sanctioned custom is to make F her new middle name. She would therefore be called "X F, A's daughter" thereafter; she would still have no family name. ↩︎
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