I just came across this article and I desperately need our Icelandic Berries to confirm or deny! 
I find it hard to believe… but perhaps it’s accurate 
I already knew most of this of course, but it’s still very interesting. Especially the story about Blær.
I’ve always found Iceland’s way of dealing with names fascinating. And I recognize some of those things in myself, like my reluctance to call any name a unisex name 
Which is strange, because in general I reject gender stereotypes, but I seem to have internalized a strict divide when it comes to names. I believe that since the article was published the committee has become less strict about male / female names, as far as I can tell, but I’m not entirely sure how they see it now.
As for the list: I like the idea, and if I still lived in Iceland I’d have no trouble naming my children with names that are on the list, because there are so many perfect names on there. On the other hand, none of my sons’ names is on the list except for Hjörtur and Húni, not even [name_m]Emmanuel[/name_m] without the accent (Emmanúel is). They might have accepted [name_m]Barnabas[/name_m], but Pythagoras? Zakynthos? [name_m]Endymion[/name_m]? Not in a million years 
I think there’s an interesting conversation to be had about naming culture in Europe. To a lot of Europeans, the fact that places like the US allow you to name your child whatever you want (with a few exceptions) seems really bizarre, and even irresponsible. Iceland is an especially strict example though for sure.
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