Oh I'm sorry... You don't read Icelandic?
*weary sigh*
Neither do I.
And I need some help. For the Great Gay American Werewolf Novel, I need names for some minor characters from Iceland. Four men's names and one woman's name. Just first names, and diminutives are fine ("Jim" rather than "James"), if Icelanders use diminutives.
I, of course, have always been pretty intrigued by Iceland. It all started when Reagan and Gorbachov had a summit in Rejkjavik back in the Eighties. In the coverage of the summit, Dan Rather, I believe, was interviewing the Prime Minister of Iceland. Lots of blah-blah-blah about that freedom, democracy, and volcanic hot springs lovin' country.
But then, Dan Rather poses the following question: "Mr. Prime Minister, polls indicate that eighty percent of Icelanders believe in elves. Do you believe in elves?"
Without hesitation, the Prime Minister of Iceland replied, "Elves are welcome here!"
So that's the deal. Some typical icelander names. And no using "Oli," the name of the character in Hostel from Iceland. That's too obvious.
Post'em in Comments, and I'll be grateful, and you'll have assisted in creating Art!
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1 comment:
As if knitting were the only thing I learned from my Icelandic grandmother. My Icelandic is a little rusty as I have no one to practice with, but I can give you some help with the naming conventions.
Most Icelanders have one or two first names (skírnarnafn) and a patronymic (föðurnafn). In an Icelandic family consisting of a mother, a father, a son and a daughter, each family member will have a different last name. The last name is formed by taking the father's (or mother's) first name in the possessive case form followed by -son or dóttir.
E.g.: Guðmundsson, Stefansson, Ingólfsson or Björk Guðmundsdóttir (the singer's full name).
It is also common for Icelanders to be addressed by relatives and friends with a pet name (gælunafn). Most pet names are traditional abbreviations of the first name, ending in -i for men and -a for women.
Some male name suggestions:
Páll or Palli
Sigurður or Siggi
Guðmundur or Gummi
Gunnlaugur (Jeep on my rugby team) or Gunni
Einar, Gunnar, Magnús.
From the Icelandic sagas:
Olaf, Throstein, Bolli, Thorbjorn, Snorri, Yngvar, Kveldulf, Skallagrim, and Egil.
Some female name suggestions:
Kolbrún or Kolla
Sigriður or Sigga
Ásdís or Ása
Guðrún
From the Icelandic sagas:
Yngvild, Aud, Thorgerd, Asgerd, Helga, and Thorhild.
If you want to borrow my translated edition of the sagas or my copy of The Galdrabók, which is an Icelandic grimoire full of runic spells, let me know.
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