Commedian Jón Gnarr applied for, and was granted, a name-change in the United States. RÚV reports that the former mayor of Reykjavík repeatedly tried to legally change his name to Jón Gnarr in Iceland, without success.
Jón now resides in Houston, Texas, with his family, where he will serve as the first Rice University’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) Writer-in-Residence.
Read more: Jón Gnarr to write his fourth novel in Texas
Read more: MPs hope to change Icelandic naming laws
Iceland has strict naming laws which state that names established by tradition solely as men’s or women’s forenames may not be used as family names. Jón’s chosen last name, Gnarr, is actually a mispronunciation ofthe forename Gunnar – which is Jón’s middle name. According to the comedian his mother would call him in for dinner by shouting “Jón Gnarr!” and the name stuck.
Read more: Do Icelanders have family names?
The Icelandic Naming Committee was established in 1991 and governs the introduction of new given names into the Icelandic language. The name must only contain letters in the Icelandic alphabet, must grammatically fit the language, it may not embarrass the child in the future and it must indicate the child’s gender. Members of parliament recently proposed a bill to abolish the naming committee.
Commedian Jón Gnarr applied for, and was granted, a name-change in the United States. RÚV reports that the former mayor of Reykjavík repeatedly tried to legally change his name to Jón Gnarr in Iceland, without success.
Jón now resides in Houston, Texas, with his family, where he will serve as the first Rice University’s Centre for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) Writer-in-Residence.
Read more: Jón Gnarr to write his fourth novel in Texas
Read more: MPs hope to change Icelandic naming laws
Iceland has strict naming laws which state that names established by tradition solely as men’s or women’s forenames may not be used as family names. Jón’s chosen last name, Gnarr, is actually a mispronunciation ofthe forename Gunnar – which is Jón’s middle name. According to the comedian his mother would call him in for dinner by shouting “Jón Gnarr!” and the name stuck.
Read more: Do Icelanders have family names?
The Icelandic Naming Committee was established in 1991 and governs the introduction of new given names into the Icelandic language. The name must only contain letters in the Icelandic alphabet, must grammatically fit the language, it may not embarrass the child in the future and it must indicate the child’s gender. Members of parliament recently proposed a bill to abolish the naming committee.
