Nordic Names Blog - New Icelandic Names 2020-02

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25 February 2020
In February 2020, 13 names were submitted to the Icelandic naming committee for approval. 11 of them were approved and two rejected:

Female Names

  • Artemis: This name is taken from the Greek mythology. It is the name of the Greek goddess of the hunt. The name was approved.
  • Hilja: This Finnish name is relatively new. The first documented usage in Finland was in the 19th century. It means 'quiet', 'calm'. Wishful thinking of the parents for the near future with the baby? ☺ The name was approved.
  • Jeanne: The traditional Icelandic form of this name is Jóhanna and this is the French form. As there is no French J-sound in Icelandic, this name might be difficult to pronounce. When Jeanne was submitted to the naming committee in 2007, it was rejected but this February they had a change of mind and the name was approved.
  • Malin: Another name which had been rejected before: Back in 2003 Malin was not accepted as the proper Icelandic spelling is Malín. Nevertheless, this February it was finally approved.
  • Stormey: This is a new combination of STORM and EY introducing STORM as a very new name element. Maybe we will see some more names containing STORM in the future? This first combination that we know of was approved.

Male Names

  • Art: This English short form of Arthur was approved. It looks very similar to traditional Icelandic short names which are used preferably as second given names, such as Hrafn, Örn and Már.
  • Bergúlfur: This name was used in Iceland once before, it appeared in the census of 1703. There are a couple of variant forms which are more popular in Iceland (Björgólfur, Björgúlfur) and now Bergúlfur was approved as well.
  • Grey: This English surname was rejected. It is (very rarely) used in the other Nordic countries, probably mostly by immigrants from English-speaking countries.
  • Haftýr: This new combination of HAF and TYR was approved. Both name elements are old Nordic elements forming a meaning of 'sea god'.
  • Halli: This name has been used from the first time of settlement in Iceland. It fell out of use in the beginning of the 20th century but now maybe it is ready for a comeback? Of course it was approved.
  • Sigvard: The traditional Icelandic form is Sigvarður, while the form Sigvard has been used in the other Nordic countries. Sigvard was approved to use in Iceland now as well.
  • Ymur: This Icelandic vocabulary word means 'sound', 'humming sound'. It is related to the name of the giant Ymir in the Norse mythology and was approved.

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See also

For more information and new Icelandic names of other months see Icelandic Approved Names.

References

  1. Mannanafnaskrá at island.is, http://www.island.is