The Icelandic Language Institution has asked the Icelandic football federation to reconsider its decision to print players’ jerseys with their patronyms, rather than their actual given names. The Language Institution believes argues this decision by the football association is in violation of Icelandic law and traditions.
Football is undermining a thousand years old tradition
The local newspaper Morgunblaðið reports that earlier this month the Icelandic football federation decided that the jerseys of Icelandic players at UEFA EURO 2016 will carry their last names, rather than their first names. The Language Institution argues this decision is in violation of a 2011 law on the Icelandic language, which states Icelandic should be the official language of Iceland in international settings, and that according to Icelandic tradition, stretching back to the settlement of Iceland, Icelanders are properly identified by their first given names, rather than their surnames.
Read more: Do Icelanders have family names?
While Icelandic footballers who play for foreign teams wear jerseys with their last names, (for example Gylfi Sigurðsson, who plays for the premier league team Swansea in a jersey marked “Sigurðsson”), this makes little sense because Icelanders traditionally do not have last names in the same sense most other Europeans do.
Patronyms: Icelanders use an archaic naming system
While some Icelanders carry family names, the norm in Iceland is a patronymic or a matronymic system, where the last name reflects the father (or the mother). Sigurðsson, for example, simply means “the son of Sigurður”. Listings in Iceland, such as the phone directory and other registries, are alphabetised by the first name, and Icelanders are properly referred to by their first names, not their surname.
Other nations, including the other Scandinavian countries and Russia, used a similar system until relatively recently. Due to pressures from government officials and army recruiters looking for ways to simplify record keeping these nations have all dropped the patronymic system in favour of family names.
The Icelandic Language Institution has asked the Icelandic football federation to reconsider its decision to print players’ jerseys with their patronyms, rather than their actual given names. The Language Institution believes argues this decision by the football association is in violation of Icelandic law and traditions.
Football is undermining a thousand years old tradition
The local newspaper Morgunblaðið reports that earlier this month the Icelandic football federation decided that the jerseys of Icelandic players at UEFA EURO 2016 will carry their last names, rather than their first names. The Language Institution argues this decision is in violation of a 2011 law on the Icelandic language, which states Icelandic should be the official language of Iceland in international settings, and that according to Icelandic tradition, stretching back to the settlement of Iceland, Icelanders are properly identified by their first given names, rather than their surnames.
Read more: Do Icelanders have family names?
While Icelandic footballers who play for foreign teams wear jerseys with their last names, (for example Gylfi Sigurðsson, who plays for the premier league team Swansea in a jersey marked “Sigurðsson”), this makes little sense because Icelanders traditionally do not have last names in the same sense most other Europeans do.
Patronyms: Icelanders use an archaic naming system
While some Icelanders carry family names, the norm in Iceland is a patronymic or a matronymic system, where the last name reflects the father (or the mother). Sigurðsson, for example, simply means “the son of Sigurður”. Listings in Iceland, such as the phone directory and other registries, are alphabetised by the first name, and Icelanders are properly referred to by their first names, not their surname.
Other nations, including the other Scandinavian countries and Russia, used a similar system until relatively recently. Due to pressures from government officials and army recruiters looking for ways to simplify record keeping these nations have all dropped the patronymic system in favour of family names.
