Nordic Names Blog - New Icelandic Names 2021-01

5 February 2021
In January 2021, ten names were submitted to the Icelandic naming committee for approval. Three of them were approved and seven rejected:

Female Names

• Ailsa: Originally a place name Ailsa Craig, an island off the west coast of Scotland, this name is used as a given name mostly in Scotland as well but it was rejected in Iceland.
• Alaia: This spelling of the Basque name meaning 'joyful, happy' was rejected.
• Alaía: ... but this slightly different spelling was approved.
• Alia: Same problem with this name which can be a Latin name meaning 'other', 'another' or Arabic meaning 'sky', 'heaven', 'loftiness'. This spelling was rejected while
• Alía: ... this spelling was approved.
• Leah: This English spelling with a silent h at the end was rejected. The proper Icelandic spelling is Lea.
• Viðey: This new combination of the name elements VID and EY was approved. It was previously only used as a horse name.

Male Names

• Alpha: This Latin spelling of άλφα (alpha) the first letter in the Greek alphabeth was rejected
• Aquamann: This idea for a given name was probably inspired by the American film 'Aquaman' which was shot in Iceland - but it was rejected
• Esjarr: This creative spelling of Esjar was rejected as well.

See also

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