Johanna Siguardottir means Johanna daughter of Sigur. Arni Pall Aranson means Arni Pall son of Aran. Sigur would have been the son of someone. Aran would have been the son of someone.
In Iceland your given name is followed by your father's name followed by the word "son" if you are that person's son, or dottir if you are that person's daughter.
This was the rule in Scandinavian Countrys, including England pre 1066, till the other Scandinavian countries decided to force people to have proper last names in the Latin tradition. All did it while before the black death in the 1300s.
Thus Leaf Ericson, the Viking that landed in North America around 1000 AD was Leaf the son the Eric. Eric the Red, as he is known to history, had discovered Greenland. I bring this up to show another example of such a naming system.
The Arabs use a similar system. Hussain Saddam, meant Hussain son of Saddam. Watching the House of Saud you see this naming system in operation. Bin meaning son of, with bint meaning daughter of. Osama bin Laden meant Osama son of Laden.
it appears the Arabs of Iraq do not use the term bin on bint, but the people of Arabia do. Please note this may be the product of western reporting, I.e. Reporters reporting from Iraq may just not use the term bin or bint, while it is practice to use bin and bint if reporting on Arabia. On the other hand the terms bin and bint may be understood in Iraq and just not writren down.
The Chinese comes the closest to western naming tradition, but the start with their family name first then their given name, which is opposite of Western/Latin naming system.
Native Americans naming system varied by tribe, but most tribes considered it dangerous for your enemies to know your real name, so it was kept secret to all but close family members. Outside of the family, you were called by a nickname, which could change as you age or your position in the tribe changed. Thus a young boy may be called "Mischievous child" then "brave boy" then "Bear killer" then in his old age "Wise leader". As the first Americans came more and more in contact with white society this habit of changing one's name became less and less common, for it confused the whites. Since the late 1800s changing nicknames seems to have stopped, and such nick names are even put on birth certificates, while the person's "real name" remains a secret known only to the person's family. Thus from a US legal point of view the Nickname is the First American's "real name" even if that name is NOT that person's real name by tribal rules. Again this varies by tribe.
Just pointing out naming traditions do not always follow the Latin Tradition of given name, middle name followed by family name.
In actual Roman times, the middle name was the branch of the family you were from. Thus in Gaius Julius Caesar, Gaius was the given name, and Julius was the branch of the Caesar family he was from. The given name was generally dropped for under Roman Law you remained under the control of the eldest male member in your line of birth till that man died. This was true even if you were 50 years of age or older. Thus the given name generally was not important, for if you were the eldest male in your line, you were in charge of all of your children, their children and even those children's children etc. Julius Caesar had no legitimate male sons, thus he named his nephew Octavian Julius Caesar his heir and adopted sons (this removed Octavian from his own father's line to the line of Gaius Julius Caesar and given Gaius Julius Caesar's death, Octavian was head of that branch of the Caesar family).
This method of naming remained the standard in Rome till the 500s when names reverted to given name and family name for some reason unknown today but tied in with the lost of Italy to the Goths. This two names only system remain the standard even after Italy was retaken ln the 600s. This remained the standard for most people till 1800s when you start to see people, outside of royalty, using three names instead of two. Appears to come out of to many people with the same first and last names. Royalty would give their children several names, based on family relationships, but that naming system has no relevancy today. I bring up the Latin naming system snd its use of three names then two names then the reintroduction of three names to show even the Latin System has changed over the years, but it is still the dominate system in the west today.
Please note the Spainish system has a slight difference from the Latin System. In the Arab naming system it is given name then your father's name, then your Mother's name, with the Mother's name being the first name dropped (and in most cases never used). The Spainish naming system follows this tradition but the Mother's name is frequently used unlike the Arab System were the Mother's name is rarely used.
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