Republic of Iceland is one of the most marooned countries in the world . placed just about savor - splash in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean , its tightlipped neighbor on the European mainland is Norway , 600 miles ( 966 kilometers ) off . This extreme farness make the Icelandic universe one of the most genetically homogenous in the world . In fact , every undivided aboriginal Icelander has a piazza on the very same category tree : They ’re all descendent of Jón Arason , the last Catholic bishop of Iceland , and his wife , Helga Sigurðardóttir .
It stick out to reason , then , that Icelanders are extremely interested in genealogy . Upon get together someone for the first prison term , the standard greeting is " Hverra manna from heaven ert þú ? " – Who are your mass ? The answer might not be straight off apparent because Icelanders have a different last name tradition than most of the rest of the world . There are no kin names – mass are list right away after their parent , usually the father . Take Björk , for representative . The most renowned Icelander ’s last name is Guðmundsdóttir because her father ’s name is Guðmundur . Guðmundur ’s sons would have the surname Guðmundsson . So , even in a piazza where everyone ’s related , it might not always be obvious exactly how someone is related to you .
This pose a unparalleled challenge when you ’re an Icelander see forlove . ill at ease date situationsare inevitable in an island - limit universe of 320,000 in which everyone shares a family tree . EnterÍslendingabók(The Book of Icelanders ) , an online database developed in 1997 that contains the genealogic information for 95 per centum of the Icelandic universe since 1703 [ source : Arnarsdottir ] . It ’s become a national obsession , a blessing not only to individual people on the prowl but also to the intact genealogy - obsessed populace .
Fortunately for future Icelanders , the nation has been extremely organized from the start , and the database was cull from punctilious records kept since 874 . ( Íslendingabókalso has information on half of the population from 874 until 1703 . ) Anyone with an Icelandic ID act can lumber in for free , enrol two name , and ascertain out exactly how the two people are related . you could get name and birth date for any of the 720,000 people in the database . Full genealogic information , including exact lines of descent , is available for anyone with whom you apportion a enceinte - grandparent .
Íslendingabókis patently an invaluable resource for the country as a whole , but there ’s also a lot of stake in the other slant . In 2013 , a group of engineering scholar total up with " Islendiga - App , " ( " App of Icelanders " ) . Otherwise sleep together as the " Anti - Incest App , " it taps theÍslendingabókdatabase for a very hardheaded use . With just a spigot of smartphones , two multitude can come up out if they should be kissing cousins … or not .
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