WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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I am in Iceland. It is both stunningly
beautiful and

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stunningly cold, and it's also a very
good place to talk about something

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you might not know, which is names.
Specifically,

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how a lot of the world's names—perhaps
even a majority—

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don't fit into the English system of
names given to you by your parents

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and then names inherited from your parents. Here in Iceland,

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for example, the idea that you have a family name handed down

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generation to generation to generation
just doesn't happen.

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It's rare at best. Instead, children

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take their parents' first name with "son"
or "daughter" added to it.

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Which instantly makes the Icelandic 
telephone directory a little bit complicated: you have to

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index by first name and by occupation
because there are

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so few last names in total. And if that sounds strange, well think of all the

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people you know whose last names are gonna be

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Thomson or Davidson or Peterson or Jameson.

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All of those are that Icelandic system,
which used to be the English system,

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it's just changed now so it is a family
name. And beyond that you have

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all the people who don't go by their
legal name. Technically even I don't—my legal name is

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Thomas Scott,

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but I go by Tom. Add to that the
people who go by their middle name,

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or who go by a nickname, or who just go by a
different name for

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any number of reasons. Then you've got
the cultures who put their family name

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first, which is always confusing when
they're trying to translate

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over to English. Which brings me to a
bit of advice, really.

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If you're asking for
people's names, either on a paper form or online,

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don't put first name and last name. Don't put—the worst-case—

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Christian name and surname. Just give
someone a box

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to type into—just ask them what their name is.

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And for bonus points, then ask them how
they want to be addressed,

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because, well, if you want to make friends, the
best way is to get someone's name right.

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