Jónsdóttir

Jónsdóttir is an Icelandic patronymic surname meaning “daughter of Jón.” It is formed by taking the father’s given name, Jón, and adding the suffix -dóttir, which denotes a female child. In Icelandic naming practice, surnames are typically patronymic rather than hereditary family names, so Jónsdóttir indicates a person’s parentage rather than a long-standing family lineage.

As a result, Jónsdóttir is not a fixed family name; a daughter of a man named Jón would be called Jónsdóttir, while his son would be Jónsson. The form is common in Iceland and appears in official records, media, and everyday usage. In international contexts, it may be rendered without diacritics as Jonsdottir or similar variants, though the proper Icelandic spelling is Jónsdóttir.

In Iceland, the naming system is part of a broader tradition in which many people use patronymics or occasionally matronymics. The Icelandic Naming Committee oversees given names, while the practice of forming patronymics like Jónsdóttir is widely used and understood as a reflection of parentage rather than a hereditary surname. In modern times, some Icelanders living abroad adopt more stable surnames for convenience, but within Iceland the standard practice remains to use patronymics such as Jónsdóttir.