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Description
Most Icelanders have no surname. The last word is a patronymic or matronymic, the genitive of a parent's given name plus -son or -dóttir (Einarsson, Sigurðardóttir, Sturluson). Since 2019 there is also the gender-neutral -bur. The parse already reads that word as the family, and nothing changes there (measured on master dadf39b):
| Input | family | patronymic |
|---|---|---|
Jón Einarsson |
Einarsson |
'' |
Guðrún Sigurðardóttir |
Sigurðardóttir |
'' |
Sigurðardóttir, Guðrún |
Sigurðardóttir |
'' |
Jóhanna Sigurdardottir |
Sigurdardottir |
'' |
patronymic (rules/R9) is filled from a word or a rule that says patronymic, never from position. The default can't use the ending, because -son is also English (John Johnson, Nelson). decisions/R9 leaves this open: "the Icelandic ending rule, which an is pack would turn on".
Measured (vocabulary-model-rfc.md, 2026-10-28):
- 63.8% of ORCID's Icelandic family boxes end in
-sonor-dóttir(1,647 of 2,583). - The parse reads every one checked as the family (1,509 of 1,509).
So the pack would move one view, not a role.
Proposal, in rule shape
When: the parse is under locales.IS, and a family word ends in -son, -dóttir (or the unaccented -dottir) or -bur.
Then: that word also fills patronymic. Its role stays family, and family, given and middle are unchanged.
Because: choosing the pack declares the names Icelandic, and in Icelandic the ending is the patronymic.
What it adds:
- a
PatronymicRule.ICELANDICmember besideEAST_SLAVICandTURKIC; - a
[rules]table inis.toml(patronymic_rules = ["icelandic"]); locales.IS, built asRUandTR_AZare.
The vocabulary already ships in is.toml (herra, frú, ungfrú, greifi, eldri, yngri).
Accepted under the pack: John Johnson fills patronymic Johnson.
Open questions
- Is
-sontoo wide (Nelsonunder the pack)? Or should the rule need a longer stem, or the genitive-s(-sson), and missSturluson? - Should two parent names be read as patronymics (
Jón Sigurðsson Einarsson, or a matronymic beside a patronymic)? Or only the last? frúas an after-given salutation (rules/H8) only under the pack: the RFC says the model can't express a property that turns on with a pack, so this is left out.- Measured: how CLDR's
isrows and Wikidata'spatronymic-isstratum move under the pack.
Moved off 3.0 on 2026-11-05: both pieces are additive (tracked in #753, part of #747).
Activity
derek73 commentedon Nov 8, 2026
Measured on the Alþingi's list of every member since 1845 (
althingi.is/altext/xml/thingmenn/, 1,269 distinct names, 2026-11-08), plus the Icelandic ORCID records the default disagrees with. All of this bears on the pack's rule rather than on the default, which reads 1,267 of the 1,269 with the last word as family and no title or suffix. 1,173 end in-sonor-dóttir, and 148 in an inherited family name (Thoroddsen,Blöndal,Briem,Haarde).1. The patronymic is not always the last word. The proposed rule reads the family word only, so it misses a patronymic followed by a family name:
Kolbeinn Óttarsson ProppéÓttarssonProppéDiljá Ámundadóttir ZoegaÁmundadóttirZoegaORCID shows how the bearers file it. Of the 101 Icelandic records whose boxes the default parse disagrees with, 9 put a patronymic followed by a family name in their own family box (
Olafsson Waage,Guðmundsdóttir Beck,Skúlason Kaldal,Freysdóttir Njarðvík). So there are two questions here: whetherpatronymicreads the middle word in this shape, and whether the family is both words, astwo_family_namesmakes it for Spanish.2. Two parent names (open question 2). Both shapes occur:
Arndís Anna Kristínardóttir Gunnarsdóttir,Lilja Hrönn Önnudóttir Hrannarsdóttir,Hermann Jónsson Bragason; in ORCID's family boxesÁstudóttir Kristjánsdóttir,Halldórsdóttir Gudjonsson.Inga Björk Margrétar Bjarnadóttir,Kolbrún Áslaugar Baldursdóttir,Jana Salóme Ingibjargar Jósepsdóttir; in ORCIDSólveigar Guðmundsdóttir,Jóhönnu Brynjarsdóttir,Soffíu Björgvinsdóttir. This one carries no-dóttir, so an ending rule cannot see it, and today it reads as a middle name.3. The ending's cost inside Icelandic, not only
Nelson. Four women in the list have an inherited family name ending in-son:Ingibjörg H. Bjarnason,Hanna Katrín Friðriksson,Anna Ólafsdóttir BjörnssonandKristjana M Thorsteinsson. Under the rule each would fillpatronymic, and nothing in the writing says otherwise. The Danish-form names (Thoroddsen,Mathiesen,Johnsen) end in-sen, so the rule does not reach them.4.
St.as a middle name written short. Icelanders shorten middle names to two or three letters (Kr.,Th.,Jóh.,Fr.), and every one in the list reads as a middle name exceptSt., which the Saint reading joins to the family:Ingunn St. Svavarsdóttir''St. SvavarsdóttirIt is the shape of
Mary St. Clair, so not something the default can change. A choice ofiscould ifis.tomlheld a reading ofstthat turns the Saint reading off, as thecs,hrandskfiles do with theirdefault = falsegeneration readings.The place-name shape (
Jónas Jónsson frá Hriflu) is a separate question, filed as #1176.