Personal names registry

Origin and development

Abstract

The article sheds light on the origin and development of the Icelandic register of personal names. There were various matters of opinion during the creation of this register, e.g. regarding the interpretation of the provision in the name law from 1991 that given names should be Icelandic. Procedural rules have been established to ensure that the law‘s implementation would be clear. In 1996, a new naming law was passed, and it was no longer required that a given personal name should be Icelandic. That change had a great impact on Icelandic register of personal names, and based on it, many names of foreign origin have been added to the register. A number of nicknames that were not allowed as personal names according to the old law, as well as many old names that were not included in the register in 1991 because how uncommon they were have also been added. With the entry into force of the law on gender autonomy in 2019, the provision that a girl should be given a female name and a boy should be given a male name was abolished, and as a result various gender-neutral names have been added to the personal names register.