The population of Iceland is so small, they have a special app to consult when two people meet, so they can figure out if they are too closely related.
Must make single bars awkward:
“Are you from the South? Because you’re the only Tennessee!”
“Yeah, okay Buster, lemme stop you right there. How do you spell your last name?”
Also, almost no Icelanders have last names (in the sense of family names). Most have just a patronymic that translates as “son/daughter of (father’s name)” (i.e., Björk’s father was named Guðmundur), which is why references to Icelanders in the news refer to them by given name. As the Icelandic name pool is limited (there’s a naming committee which must approve all new names, and they’re somewhat conservative), the population register also includes people’s nicknames.
The population of Iceland is so small, they have a special app to consult when two people meet, so they can figure out if they are too closely related.
Must make single bars awkward:
“Are you from the South? Because you’re the only Tennessee!”
“Yeah, okay Buster, lemme stop you right there. How do you spell your last name?”
Also, almost no Icelanders have last names (in the sense of family names). Most have just a patronymic that translates as “son/daughter of (father’s name)” (i.e., Björk’s father was named Guðmundur), which is why references to Icelanders in the news refer to them by given name. As the Icelandic name pool is limited (there’s a naming committee which must approve all new names, and they’re somewhat conservative), the population register also includes people’s nicknames.
Doesn’t Iceland still follow the tradition of using the father’s first name followed by “son” or “dottir” for their “last names”?
So, when a Jonson meets a Jonsdottir at a singles bar, they just know that they both have fathers named Jon (hopefully not the same one).