Foreign in the Icelandic name law debate

Kendra Willson

Lataukset:

Discussion of name law in Iceland often compares the name rights of foreigners

and those of Icelanders, both contrasting Icelandic laws with

those of other countries and considering the name rights of immigrants

to Iceland and of Icelanders living abroad. The policy which, from 1952

until 1996, required foreign-born persons seeking Icelandic citizenship to

have Icelandic names stemmed from a puristic tradition based in the nationalistic

movement of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as reflecting

the assimilationist policies toward ethnic others that were widespread in

Europe in the mid-20th century. The elimination of the name change requirement

was framed as a matter of human rights and connected with a

general shift toward pluralism and multiculturalism. However, inasmuch

as the revised name law granted .special. name rights to naturalized citizens

and the children of foreign-born parents, it created a new inequality.

This was connected in the popular discourse to the existing inequalities in

name law concerning fixed surnames. Fixed surnames were regarded at

the start of the the 20th century as .un-Icelandic. .parasitic culture.

and a threat to the traditional patronymic system. The name law of 1925

banned new surnames but .grandfathered. in existing fixed surnames, a

problematic decision which has led to much subsequent dissatisfaction.

Several attempts to amend the name law between 1955 and 1971 failed in

part because the issue of surnames was so controversial. Those who object

to the current name law regard immigrants' rights to keep their original

surnames and to have names that do not fulfill the general criteria of the

Icelandic name law as a form of reverse discrimination. The law is very

unpopular and the current situation unstable. Most likely the law will be

liberalized radically in the coming years.