King’s College 2004 v Mistress Gunnvör sílfrahárr
25
Bynames of Relationship : Matronymics
While people did occasionally bear
matronymics it was extremely
uncommon. There were a total
of only 34 women in Iceland
whose sons used their mother's
name as a matronymic, and most of
these lived in the northern and
western districts of Iceland,
including:
vEilif Guðrunarson
vHrafn Guðrunarson
vStein Herdísarson
vBersi Skald-Tórfuson
vKormak Dolluson
vOfeig Jarngerðsson of
Skarð
From
the Academy of St. Gabriel:
vThe daughter of Ragnhildr
would have been known as Ragnhildar dóttir... Ragnhildar was the genitive (possessive) form of Ragnhildr. Metronymics (surnames that identified someone as her mother's daughter) were far less common than patronymics, but they were used in least some parts of the Viking world. (See
vThere was also a
feminine name Hildr that
was common in tenth-century Iceland. Its possessive form was Hildar, and in
principle the byname Hildar
dóttir ‘daughter of Hildr’ is possible. In practice, however, metronymics -- names identifying the bearer's mother -- were very rare in Iceland, and we don't recommend this alternative.
(See
(See