Talk:Geir Haarde

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I had believed that all native Icelanders had a surname that is an immediate patronymic: the new prime minister seems to have a more typically Danish (?) style of family name. Any explanation (preferably beyond "you believed wrongly")? Kevin McE 16:53, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Many Icelanders do not have the traditional patronymic surnames, they can also inherit the family name of their parents. Geir's father was Norwegian. --Bjarki 17:11, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * It seems that most Icelanders with just Icelandic ancestors have no family names, although there is one that comes to my mind: Eldjárn (see Kristján Eldjárn) - the name sounds genuinely Icelandic, how did it happen that there is an Eldjárn family? Gestumblindi 00:32, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Prior to 1925, it was legal to adopt new family names. Since then, one can't adopt a family name unless one has the "right" to do so. Such Icelandic family names include Eldjárn and Guðjohnsen for instance. --Bjarki 00:55, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Not sure about Eldjárn, but note that many of the family names that Icelanders took up sound foreign because that was considered fancier and also because they took them up to use abroad. This applies eg. to Thoroddsen. Jón Thoroddsen the elder is the son of Þórður Þóroddsson. He converted the patronym of his father into a family name. Also there are a couple of cases where a last name has the appearance of a patronym but is actually a family name. An example of this is Thor Vilhjálmsson, his father was Guðmundur Vilhjálmsson. Then again, that family name didn't get passed down so the son of Thor Vilhjálmsson is Guðmundur Andri Thorsson. Stefán 19:09, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

For better information please include this in Icelandic naming conventions Bestlyriccollection

Keir Hardie
Could he be the reincarnation of Keir Hardie, due to his similar name, or perhaps the same man, out of retirement, with a misspelling? Unforgivable Sinner 12:20, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Hah, it has been said that the Independence Party has moved slightly to the left since Geir took over. No wonder if the chairman is a reincarnated socialist. --Bjarki 12:51, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
 * It's been moving towards the left? Good. Has it also moved towards Brussels? ;) &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 22:18, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Well... while Davíð Oddsson was downright hostile towards the EU, Geir is probably more moderate and more of a pragmatist in the European matters. I think there will be an increased focus on Europe in the coming years but within the framework of the EEA. Iceland is probably going to increase its presence in Brussels and do some serious lobbying regarding its interests. The general sentiment in all parties is that the EEA is a mighty fine deal and that there is nothing to be gained by full membership that we don't already have through the EEA. I don't really expect a serious debate about the EU in Icelandic politics in the near future. --Bjarki 23:39, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Too bad... well, we'll see what the future brings. I'm looking forward to the day when all of Europe is united in the Union. :) &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 12:11, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I understand your European sentiment, but shouldn't each country look to its interests? If we're better off within the EEZ than the EU, where's the harm? We're just as as European in any case. :-) Cheers Io 17:41, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

numbers
Dose the Icelandic Prime Ministers have numbers like the Swedish Prime Ministers ?

Just for fun - Icelandic Prime ministers with surnames
Hannes Hafstein (the first of them all - twice)

Sigurður Eggerz (twice)

Ólafur Thors (Half-Danish - five times)

Jóhann Hafstein

Benedikt Gröndal

Gunnar Thoroddsen

Geir Haarde (Half-Norwegian)

That makes seven out of, well count for yourselves. :-)

Cheers Io 17:51, 16 June 2007 (UTC)
 * A similar thing is the case in Sweden. Lower class and lower middle class people typically have frozen patronymics (e.g. Persson, Olsson, Nilsson, Andersson etc) while upper middle and upper class people typically have "true" family names, often with a foreign element (e.g. Laurelius, Sandén, Kratz, Adlercreutz, Leander, Thulin etc). "True" family names with two parts with no foreign elements, preferrably taken from the nature, are also very common within both the lower and middle classes (e.g. Lindström, Ahlgren, Holmberg, Westergren etc.). Swedish prime ministers typically don't have the lower class -sson names, especially not the right wing ones. The current right wing prime minster's name is Reinfeldt, i.e. a foreign one of typical upper middle class type.
 * Jens Persson (213.67.64.22 21:20, 30 June 2007 (UTC))

Dutch namn
His namn looks like it is of a Dutch origin?, note the double-A. Falcon-eagle2007 23:06, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No, it's Norwegian. He is half-Norwegian and the double-a represents the Norwegian å (often written aa). Same as the double-a in the name of the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard. --140.180.6.184 (talk) 23:44, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the surname "Haarde", but were afraid to ask
To go into extreme detail about a relatively minor detail: I deleted the erroneous etymology of his Norwegian name ("the hard one"). I have now tracked down a source about the real meaning.

First of all: The name is the name of a farm, more precisely the farm that his father emigrated to Iceland from. This is one of the two common ways of forming surnames in Norwegian. The farm in its modern spelling is called "Hårde" and is situated in Rogaland county, near the border of Hordaland. In 2000, 30 Norwegians had the surname "Hårde".

The origin of the name is not certain. In medieval sources, it is written Hörðu, (Hǫrðu). It is speculated that this may be connected with the name of the tribe/people "hörðar", who also gave their name to Hordaland county (old Norse Hörðaland). A possible original form is "*Hörðá", - "the river/stream of the hörðar".

Sources: Olav Veka: "Norsk etternamnleksikon" (Oslo, 2001) and O. Rygh: "Norske Gaardnavne" (Kristiania, 1898) --Barend (talk) 11:07, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Icelandic name?
The hatnote says that "this is an Icelandic name". I question that, as Haarde is evidently a Norwegian name, and the name structure is certainly Norwegian and not Icelandic. A person with an Icelandic name will have a given name and an active patronymic, unlike Haarde, who has his father's Norwegian family name and no patronymic, so the name doesn't follow Icelandic naming customs at all. It may still be the case that he is usually referred to by his given name within Iceland, but it is entirely proper in international contexts to refer to him according to the English (given that this is the English language Wikipedia) and Norwegian (given that his name is Norwegian) convention, that is, by his family name in formal written language (and Geir in informal language, if you know him personally). --Gaduse (talk) 13:53, 19 July 2016 (UTC)


 * Well, he is an Icelander born in Iceland (to a Norwegian father, thus the Norwegian family name), and I think that it's common practice in Wikipedia to refer to Icelanders either by their first name or alternatively by the full name ("Geir Haarde"), according to Icelandic custom, even if they have an inherited or adopted family name. Other examples are Eiður Guðjohnsen, Kristján Eldjárn, or Hannes Hafstein. Gestumblindi (talk) 01:09, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

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Explanation?
It appears extraordinary that someone convicted of criminal misconduct in public office would then go on to be appointed as an Ambassador. Does this merit some kind of explanation in the article? 17:55, 30 June 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.163.171.174 (talk)