For interest:
The
Icelandic Naming Committee[1] (
Icelandic:
Mannanafnanefnd;
[2] pronounced
[ˈmanːaˌnapnaˌnɛmt])—also known in English as the
Personal Names Committee[3]—maintains an official register of approved
Icelandic given names and governs the introduction of new given names into
Icelandic culture.
The Naming Committee was established in 1991
[2] to determine whether new given names not previously used in Iceland are suitable for integration into the country's
language and
culture. The committee comprises three appointees who serve for four years, appointed by the
Minister of Justice—one to be nominated by the
Icelandic Language Committee, one by the Faculty of Philosophy of the
University of Iceland, and one by the university's Faculty of Law.
[3]
A name not already on the official list of approved names must be submitted to the naming committee for approval. A new name is considered for its compatibility with Icelandic tradition
[4] and for the likelihood that it might cause the bearer embarrassment.
[5] Under Article 5 of the Personal Names Act,
[5] names must be compatible with
Icelandic grammar (in which all nouns, including proper names, have
grammatical gender and
change their forms in an orderly fashion according to the language's
case system). Names must also contain only letters occurring in the
Icelandic alphabet, and with only occasional exceptions, a name's grammatical gender must match the sex of the person bearing the name.
[6]
As of the end of 2012, the Personal Names Register (
Mannanafnaskrá) contained 1,712 male names and 1,853 female names.
[7]
